How it Should have Healed
by Wordlet
Summary: No one ever said the life of a pirate was a safe one- actually they said the opposite. Luffy's sure he can handle it, though, and his crew is there to make sure that's true. Series covering the notable (and not notable) injuries Luffy acquires over the course of the series. Searching for the hurt/comfort in every one. Chap 17: Hesitant Heart. post-marineford. Law pov
1. Blocked Chakra

**A/N: Today's my birthday and I've been holding onto this for years, and, well, I finally feel like I can start going live with this. Please let me know what you think! It's a labor of love.**

**Many thanks to my beta reader and good friend Beyond Kailani who has been urging me to do something with this series since I told her it existed. Without you this would still be sitting on my drive- no doubt about it. Thanks for being so supportive :D **

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**Blocked** **Chakram**

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"Luffy, let's go," Nami puts her hands on her hips and stares down the slope at Luffy who is still resting, spread-eagled on his back and staring up at the sky. "If we don't hurry Zoro's going to get lost and he's carrying my treasure so we can't let that happen!" She waits for him to laugh and jump up or agree that Zoro would probably end up on a different island or something equally Luffy-esque but all she gets is an acquiescent hum. He shifts, as though to get up, but in the end just sags back down, breathing a tired sigh.

"Hey Nami, what's keeping you?" Usopp yells over his shoulder before she can snap at Luffy to _get off the ground already._ The sharpshooter is going to treat them to breakfast at the little restaurant of the town, (which is a huge mistake on his part but Nami isn't going to tell him that until _after_ he sees Luffy eat).

Speaking of whom, she frowns down at Luffy, her temper starting to flicker. Stupid pirate, she_ knows_ he wants food so why doesn't he just get up already?

"Luffy, come on! Can't you get up?"

"Yeah," He says brightly. "I can, but I think I'd just fall over again so I'm not gonna bother. I'm gonna take a nap."

"What?" Nami scolds herself for the pang of worry that hits her heart and quickly crosses her arms, working on being apathetic- he's probably just being an idiot anyway. "Stop messing around and hurry up! You're just tired, right?"

"Uh huh," Luffy cranes his neck a little and frowns at her. "You'd be tired too."

"My point is, if you want a nap then you should get up and find someplace better for it, I bet you can sleep at Usopp's house."

He mulls it over for a moment, his face creasing with the concentration it requires and she rolls her eyes.

"Alright," He decides and grunts as he pushes himself up, "I'll do that." He wobbles a little when he gets on his feet but doesn't have too much trouble climbing up the slope.

No, it seems to be even ground that gives him problems.

As soon as he reaches her side at the top of the incline he stumbles, only catching himself at the last second. Nami's suspicious by this point, though she can't say what she's suspicious _of_, and she falls in close behind him. He trips a few more times and now Nami's walking extra close, ready to catch him when he finally topples over because at this point it's all but already happened. She's glaring at the back of his head, wondering what he's hiding, when she glimpses something strange about the back of his neck. Just under the fringe of his hair, a tiny trickle appears as a red drop flows down into his shirt.

The sight of it helps everything else make sense.

With a spike of realization, she jerks her arm forward and rips his hat away from his head, sending him off balance. He topples onto his knees with a startled noise and half turns to glare back up at her but she's focused on inspecting the inside of the hat. There is a red smudge all along the back of it and when she looks closely at his head she can see his dark hair is matted.

Instantly, she registers all the things she hadn't before, the red slice marks from Kuro's cat claws on his arms and legs that have already begun to scab over (and the pinkish tint to the surrounding skin that probably isn't good). The faint outline of a bruise on his forehead that will probably amount to nothing but isn't it evidence to how _hard_ he'd hit that pirate? And, of course, _now_ she notices the evidence left behind by the chakra that had been flying for her but had instead thudded into _him_.

"_Luffy, oh my _God," she shrieks and drops to her knees, pulling him back down with her as he'd been trying to rise back to his feet. "Why didn't you say something?"

"About what?" He says grumpily as she picks through his hair, searching for the actual slice. "Ow! Watch it!"

"That!" She pulls out her hand and shows him the red coating her fingertips. "If you're bleeding, especially somewhere important like your head, you're supposed to tell someone and get it looked at immediately! What were you thinking?"

"Nami?" Usopp calls but she's distracted before she can reply.

"I was bleeding back there?" He replies, taking her hand and inspecting the fluid. His expression is doubtful- like maybe it's actually ketchup. "I guess that's why it hurt."

"You didn't even notice?" She asks, her voice shrill. "Come on, up, up up up! Let's go, you've got to get that looked at, who knows how deep it cut…"

"It'll be fine," He swats her hand away and tries to get up, wobbling on his feet again. "Just like you said, I'm tired, I'll take a nap."

"A nap isn't going to fix this Luffy." She inserts herself underneath his arm and takes most of his weight onto her good shoulder because he isn't giving it to her on his own. "You're going to need stitches, at least."

"Euch," He mutters. "No way, last time I had stitches I wasn't even rubber, I hate stitches!"

"I don't care, we're taking you straight to someone who can fix that!" She says sternly. "Usopp!" She calls "Where does the doctor live?"

"The doctor?" Usopp jogs into view over the top of the next hill, he's favoring one leg and has a spattering of bruises and bloodstains all over him but his concern is acute as he looks over his new friends. The stagger in Luffy's step and the blood on Nami's hand draws his attention immediately.

"Whoa, what happened?"

"Nothing new," Nami grumbled, "Luffy just didn't tell us that that hypnotist actually hurt him before."

"Of course it hurt," Luffy mumbles indignantly as Usopp hurries to support his other side. "It was sharp."

"We couldn't tell it hurt much," Nami smacks his arm lightly, "When you just kept on fighting I assumed he'd only grazed you! Why didn't you tell someone?"

"We didn't have time to stop. If I didn't beat up the cat butler it wouldn't matter if I was injured or not."

"You're right about that," Usopp mutters and Nami shoots him a glare. Even if he's right, she doesn't like to be told that she's wrong.

It takes a little doing but after catching up to Zoro they get Luffy to Kaya's manor. They divert from their original plan to take Luffy to the doctor because the mansion is far closer and Usopp promises that Pepper, Onion, and Carrot can get the doctor to come to them. Kaya, of course, lets them in immediately and fusses lightly as they get Luffy situated on the couch, Nami poking her fingers through his hair to inspect the wound.

"Oh, dear." Kaya flutters her hands as she wavers, caught between fetching refreshments and staying close to her guests. "Uhm, I have a first aid kit, and I, I've been reading a little on medicine, I could… take a look. At both of you if you like."

"I'll be fine," Zoro yawns from the armchair he's claimed and Nami smacks his arm.

"We appreciate the offer but I can take care of Zoro. Though we'll happily accept the help for Luffy." She smiles and tucks a piece of hair behind her ear. "I can do some small stuff, fix up the cuts he's got from… from Kuro. But this," She gestures at the wound, hair matted down with blood. "... this is a bit beyond me." Mostly because she knows enough to take care of herself, and she wouldn't be able to fix a wound like this herself, she'd have fallen unconscious and bled out the moment it was inflicted. If she didn't just die on the spot. Her skull wasn't as thick as his.

"Well, I only just started but maybe…"

"No!" Usopp steps forward and catches Kaya's arm. "You don't have to do anything, you've had a very long day and you're still sick. You should rest."

"But he's hurt…" Kaya trails off, looking down at Luffy as he blinks slowly. His body is sagged against the couch and his eyes have been flickering in and out of focus for several minutes, sliding shut and then blinking open. Nami sighs and plops down on the couch next to him, shaking his shoulder roughly and trying to ignore her own elevated heart rate.

"Hey, no sleeping till we say so."

"But you said I could take a nap..." Luffy mumbles groggily, as though he'd been woken from an hour long siesta instead of a second long snooze.

"That was before I found out you had a head wound." She mutters in reply, nudging the man's shoulder as he stares off into space and starts to drift again. "Please, Kaya," She looks up at the pair; Usopp is holding Kaya's hand but Kaya keeps shooting desperate glances at Luffy. "Just, whatever you can?"

"... Of course," She decides and her gaze softens at Nami's grateful smile.

"But Kaya," Usopp tries and the young lady shakes her head, pulling her hand free and stepping forward resolutely.

"Who knows how long it will take for the boys to get back here with the doctor? An injury like this is best treated with immediacy," She explains gently. "I should do what I can, I owe you all so much..." Zoro shrugs but Nami glares before he can protest her (free!) help.

She sits down on the couch and Nami edges out of the way, wondering slightly at how long it really _would_ take to get a doctor here and, subsequently, why it felt as though it had already been hours.

Kaya takes her seat and taps Luffy's shoulder, drawing his attention. Once his gaze slides to her she smiles.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" She holds up two fingers and Luffy's brow furrows.

"Why are you asking that?" He frowns, looking straight past her hand and gazing into her face. "Are you checking for that cocussial thing? Why do people do that? It doesn't matter if I hit my head hard, cause I'm rubber." The determined set to her face falters at the revelation, then she smothers a laugh as his focus shifts again and he answers anyway- "Two."

Nami rolls her eyes at her temporary captain, standing up and stretching. Kaya is asking him to turn around so she can look at the cut and Nami doesn't need to be here for that.

Not when she could be making sure the other meathead wasn't neglecting his own life-threatening injuries.

"Come on you," she grabs Zoro off the other couch and he trudges after her, half-asleep. "Kaya, I'm taking some of these bandages-"

"Ow!" Luffy's yelp has Nami wincing but with herculean effort she doesn't turn to see what had happened. "Don't do that!"

"I've got to see the wound," Kaya protests, "Oh, and yes, Nami, that's fine." Nami nods and skirts out the door, swordsman in one hand and roll of bandages in the other.

"You don't need to worry about stuff like this," Zoro comments a few moments later as he is sitting on the kitchen table, half stripped so she can wrap bandages around anything that bleeds (everything). "I've been taking care of myself for a while."

"Yeah, well," She pulls it a little tighter than necessary but he doesn't even blink. "Seeing as how Luffy was ignoring a bleeding head wound and you weren't doing anything about your own blood loss, I think I'm perfectly right to try and take responsibility for these things."

"I didn't say anything about Luffy." He drawls and she shoots him a surprised look.

"Are you agreeing with me? He can't take care of himself?"

"No," His expression remains neutral and silence reigns for a moment before he continues, though his next thought seems almost contradictory at first. "He's never been on his own before."

"Which is basically saying he doesn't have a clue." She narrows her eyes at him and sits back on the kitchen chair. "Why are you following a moron like him?"

"Why are _you_ following him?" he counters stoically and she bites her tongue, not willing to say any of the possible answers. _Because I can steal all his gold at the end of this, because he isn't that evil for a pirate, because he makes my life seem less horrible._

She shrugs and he takes that as enough.

"He's not used to getting hurt, most normal injuries aren't things he has to worry about." He rolls his shoulders and stretches out, skin straining and muscles flexing in a way that has Nami cringing because that's pulling at things that _should not be pulled_. "He's not half bad at fighting, and he's got good instincts, but I think his own health is a little beyond him."

"Really." she says dryly. "So you've got your own care under control?"

"I trained for this sort of thing." he slides off the table and claps her shoulder. "Let's go see how the captain is doing."

Good, it seems as they re-enter the parlor to find Luffy fast asleep on the couch, bandages wrapped around his head, and Kaya talking earnestly to a man who is rifling through a medical bag.

"I'll leave painkillers in case he needs them later," the man is saying as he sets a bottle of pills on the table, "And some antiseptic for when you clean it again. Keep ice on it for twenty minutes and don't let him walk around anymore today."

"Oh, but what about the blood loss?" Kaya worries.

"Based on his condition right now and the stage at which most of his injuries have already healed I don't think it'll be a problem. Judging by his current state I would guess the cuts look worse than they are, seems like he didn't lose much." (Nami remembers the sizeable blood spatters scattered across the beach and wonders if less of it was Luffy's than she'd thought or if he was just good at hiding that particular kind of injury.) "Still, make sure he drinks lots of fluids and eats dairy products as well as meat-"

"_Meat_," Luffy interrupts with a happy sigh and Nami smothers a laugh. Kaya notices them then and smiles warmly.

"Nami," She welcomes, "The doctor came!"

"I can see that," She answers indulgently. "And the diagnosis?"

"No lasting damage," the doctor assures her "though what you kids were doing that put you in such shapes, and how he managed a cut like that in particular, is beyond me-"

"I told you," Usopp interrupts empathetically, "There was a giant praying mantis with blades on its arms and when Luffy turned to run away, like I told him to while I fought the beast back, the thing jumped forward and _slice_," Usopp added the sound effect and a chopping motion with his hand, "If I hadn't pulled him out of the way he would be cleaved in half right now!"

"Injuries are nothing to joke or lie about," the doctor scolds but his voice betrays his fondness for the story as he shakes his head. "Even so, it is not my place to pry. Let him rest for at least a day and then make sure he eats like I said. You're travelers correct?" Nami and Zoro nod. "Do either of you know how to remove stitches?"

"I do," Nami raises her hand.

"Cut them out in about a week, I doubt that you'll have further problems."

"Thank you very much doctor," Nami shakes the man's hand "Your services are much appreciated."

"Not just appreciated, I hope," The man raises an eyebrow. "There _is_ a bill, who is paying it?"

"I will," Kaya steps forward and Usopp shoots Nami a glare that Kaya just catches. "It's no trouble, really."

While Kaya is retrieving some beri from her safe Nami plops down on the couch, suddenly exhausted. Her treasure is right in the corner of the room, Zoro had carried it here for her, she could have covered the expense no problem, even if it took a little out of her funds for getting her village. She doesn't like spending money on others and appreciates the freebie.

But… She realizes as she looks at Luffy (who is curled up in a small lump and yet easily takes half of the couch for himself) that this time she would have hardly minded at all.

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**A/N: Chapter count is 14 just right now but if I get myself together it can go as high as 24. We'll see. Please give a shout if you a. liked it because I'd really love to hear that, b. saw anything you think could use a quick edit like spelling or grammar mistakes, or c. had a content issue that you'd like me to give a trigger warning for- I want to be as conscientious as possible! Thank you for bearing with me as I bring this series to the best place it can be!**


	2. Holding Strange, Scarred Hands

**A/N: Chapter 2! And also, Happy New Year! Let's get this decade started right~**

**This one's Sanji-centric, set at the Baratie, and it took... a long time for me to get this one right. Maybe that's why it's on the longer and ramblier side. Anywho- Enjoy!  
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**Holding Strange, Scarred Hands**

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Compared to the battle that had been raging across the sea (waged among the ruins of the half-sinking ship, and skirting over the edges of the Baratie's splintered deck) the world is dreadfully quiet. It should mean peace, it should mean the fight is over, but Sanji can't appreciate it over the pounding of his heart. Zeff's words seem to stretch and echo in Sanji's head.

Bubbles rise from the water just off the bow of the Baratie, but nothing else breaks the surface.

The meaning of '_those who eat the devils fruit are cursed to be powerless in the ocean' _clicks into place and he lurches to his feet running for the edge of the deck, only half-stopping to kick off his shoes before diving in.

That's _what all the 'hammer' names were about, that's why Don Krieg was so sure of his victory when he brought it onto the sinking ship, of _course, _he can't _swim_! _His mind buzzes with the connections, and in the back, where he tries to ignore it, is the blistering whisper that he should have jumped in to help sooner. No one would have the energy to swim, cursed fruit or not, after a fight like the one their former chore boy had had. The water grows cold as he pulls himself deeper- darker and bleaker too. The silence is even more pressing than it was on the surface, water stealing all the sound from the world and leaving him to listen to the hollow pound of his heart. The wreckage from Don Krieg's ship is all around but there's no sign of a red shirt or a steel net. _Come on, where are you?_

It's when he's really beginning to run out of breath that he finds their wayward savior. The water is tinged red and the steel net has tangled in the rigging of the sunken galleon but the rubber man is too drowned to care.

He might as well be dead.

Sanji really hopes he's not dead.

Their fallen hero looks pale and empty, the beams of light that have reached this far down flickering across his skin like curious fish that aren't quite interested enough to touch something they've found. He's curled in the net and kept from sinking to the true depths only by the still settling wreckage of Don Krieg's ship, but Sanji is sure that above the surface he'll come back to life. He's sure. Anyone that can fight a battle like that and win is someone that doesn't die easily. Someone that doesn't give up.

_Don't die,_ _idiot, _he prays inwardly, _it'll be my fault._

The net is tangled around the boy's arms and legs but somehow Sanji gets it worked out. His lungs are imploding and the person he's untangling has been underwater for at least a minute more than he has which is... Discouraging. Finally, the last limb slides free and Sanji swims for both of their lives.

They breach the surface and Sanji breathes. Chore boy doesn't. Sanji's heart skips a beat at the reality of the term 'deadweight' because that's what the chore boy is, a limp body hanging off of Sanji's shoulder. Rather than wasting time trying to shake the man awake he hauls them both through the water and onto the Baratie's deck, pushing chore boy up before clambering onto the secure ground himself. He stares but the other is still and too quiet; everything is too still and too quiet.

"Hey, come on, wake up," He shakes the man's shoulders. "Didn't you say there was no way you'd die here?"

No response.

Frantic, Sanji tips him on his side and shakes him some more, distantly remembering that CPR is what you're _supposed _to do but also thinking that you weren't _supposed _to be alive at all after the kind of hits this guy had taken.

"_Say _something! Come _on_."

And then a twitch, or maybe a shiver- something shifts and Sanji freezes, tightening his grip just as chore boy seizes up and curls into himself, coughing and wheezing and dribbling seawater onto the deck.

He breathes a sigh of relief as the sputtering dies away and is replaced with first a desperate wheezing and then, after several labored breaths, a deep but gentle snore. His fingers are clenched tight around the other man's shoulder and he can feel where the breath rattles through him and shifts his whole body in a gentle rhythm that fills the quiet and chases away Sanji's own too loud heartbeat.

He sits back with a gasp and runs his hand through his hair, trying to find his own breath.

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Once Gin leaves, Sanji brings the ex-chore boy to his room and hesitates for half a second before setting him on his own bed and leaving in search of bandages and disinfectant. When he comes back there are bloodstains on the blue and white sheets from the man's hands, various puncture wounds, and the myriad of scrapes that are welling up but not dripping.

He smokes through half a pack while he works, cleaning out the deep wounds, wincing in sympathy as he bandages the man's knuckles, and peppering bandaids on anything still bleeding by the time he's done. It's not much, surprisingly. He'll still need proper medical care at some point in the near future but Sanji is no stranger to dressing wounds. This treatment will do for the time being. As though to prove this, most of the minor scrapes scab over before he can get a bandaid over them. Chore Boy's healing rate is enough to keep him alive until someone who can do better than Sanji can have a go at it.

Zeff has the rest of the restaurant up and running by nightfall, but Sanji doesn't leave his room. Instead, he keeps watch over the fool who would rather die than lose an impossible battle. Sanji's fingers itch to be useful, either in the kitchen or with more healing salves and strips of cotton fabric. Eventually he pulls himself downstairs to make up two dinner plates. Still, the anxiety persists; cooking isn't as calming as he expects and he determines to avoid doing it again. He can't shake the feeling that he shouldn't be anywhere else. That he shouldn't leave the kid alone.

Try as he might, he can't remember Chore Boy's actual name. Back when he'd first introduced himself, Sanji hadn't cared enough to remember, certain he would just be a temporary staff member. He'd announced it at some point in the fight; Sanji can remember the dramatics of the moment but not the actual information it contained. And while Sanji cares enough for a proper name _now,_ Chore Boy is asleep and Sanji doesn't want to leave his self-appointed responsibility alone long enough to go ask Zeff.

He re-checks that thought in the quiet of the cooling night. He doesn't want to go. The sensation is at once slippery and overwhelming. At first it had felt like repaying a debt. The other had sacrificed his health and safety for the sake of Sanji's home and livelihood, not to mention Zeff's dream, so the least he could do was stand vigil. As the hours tick past, however, he has to admit. There's more at play. It's internal and undefinable and it tells him he doesn't _want_ to leave the side of a man he's just met and for whom he doesn't even have a proper name. _What is wrong with him?_

He falls asleep leaning against the window frame and only wakes when there's a voice speaking. It takes him a moment to place it as Chore Boy's, another to remember his location, and then yet another to realize that the reason for all this confusion is still asleep.

"Don't go…" He mutters, face creasing in discomfort, and Sanji pushes himself to his feet, straightening his jacket and brushing off his pants. "I'm coming, so don't go…"

Chore Boy has kicked off the blankets and turned himself onto his stomach, pillow clutched tightly underneath one arm. Sanji lights a cigarette and gives the non-injured shoulder a rough shake.

"Hey, wake up," There's no response to that, or at least no more words, just a drawn out snore. "I have some food if you're hungry."

"Mngh?"

Sanji suppresses a surprised grin as the boy blinks himself awake, staring up at the ceiling with a disgruntled frown.

"Yeah, I made up a plate. Should I grab it?"

"Yeah, o-" he pushes himself up, pausing to yawn, "kay…" But his eyes slip closed and his face goes slack. Sanji reaches forward to grasp his shirt and the action only just keeps Chore Boy from dropping back to the bed in a way that would probably jar his injuries. As it is, his neck stretches into a disjointed-looking shape, leaving his head to sort of bobble for a moment. Sanji winces.

Another snore rumbles out before he can try to prompt any more conversation.

Sanji sighs and lowers him back down, pulling the chair out from the desk and plopping into it. The plate of food remains on the desk where he's had it ready. He'll let it sit for another hour before he eats it himself and tears himself away to whip up a fresh serving. He owes it to Chore Boy to be there with a little fresh food and an explanation of what happened. Besides, if he's even half as unconcerned with his injuries after a battle as he was _during_ a battle then he's gonna need a little supervision.

And if his level of personal concern and investment are a bit uncalled for when Sanji doesn't even know this kid's name, well, he's not thinking of that.

The next morning brings them to a slow awakening, or, at least for Chore Boy, a slow realization that he _is_ awake. Sanji keeps to his perch by the window and watches him orient himself. Chore Boy holds his hands up in front of him, spreads his fingers, and blinks at the bandages and smattering of bandaids running up and down his arms. Before Sanji can intervene, the bandaids are gone, peeled off without cringing or remorse. And then, before he can get mad, he sees that everything underneath them is already scabbed over. With some effort, Sanji shuts his mouth and watches as the kid pushes himself up in the bed, pats around as though looking for something, checks his head, and starts freaking out.

"It's over there," He points to the hat he'd also fished out of the ocean and Chore Boy relaxes instantly at his words, looking over his shoulder and finding the straw hat sitting on the shelf beside the bed. "Is that all you're worried about?"

"Mostly, yeah." He stretches an arm over to the hat and pulls it back onto his head, a fond smile lighting up his face as he adjusts the brim. "Oh," He turns back to Sanji with a solemn nod. "but I want to know about my crew."

Sanji watches him look around the room a little more before stretching his arms over his head. It could be considered a very typical morning warm-up except his arms bend in strange ways and twist around each other when he braces his wrists against each other. "Sorry, I don't know anything about them."

"Alright." He swings his legs over the side and stands up. Judging by the look on his face he isn't expecting the difficulty of the task. The only thing that saves Chore Boy from a tumble is his graceless grasping the bed frame for support when he teeters.

"What are you doing?" Sanji asks and the boy glances up at him.

"Leaving. You should come with me!"

"No, I-!" Sanji sputters and then musters the coherence to respond. "I'm not going anywhere, not with you at least, and you're not fit to be traveling either so-!"

"Sure I am!" He frowns at him, obstinate. "Nami left and Zoro's hurt and Usopp is probably having a really tough time! I gotta catch up and help out!" They stare at each other for a moment, each steadfast in their own statements.

"And how do you think you're going to catch up?" Sanji challenges. "You don't have a boat."

"Can't I use one of yours?"

"No!" He grits his teeth at the suggestion, the Baratie can't spare a boat (or a cook, for that matter, Sanji can't go. Why is he even thinking about it?). "Not like you'll be much use as you are anyway. How far do you think you could get on your own?"

"Not very far," He answers and Sanji makes a quick reassessment of how incapable Chore Boy really is. He already had low expectations but...

"Can you navigate?"

"No."

"Cook?"

"No."

"Do you even know where you're going?"

"Nope!"

He continues to be surprised.

"How do you expect to get anywhere? I bet you can't even walk!"

"Can too!" He pushes away from the bed and turns in a circle with his arms spread, sticking his tongue out so Sanji can see that he's quite capable. "And I've gotta try." His expression sobers and he drops his arms, clenching his fist. "They're waiting for me."

"Then they know they're going to have to wait a little longer, you're in no shape to do anything for anyone else." They're a small crew, Sanji knows the type. But they can't possibly expect their captain to come running after them after a battle like he'd just had. They'll probably come back to get him in a few days, actually. "Stop worrying about other people for a second and focus on yourself."

"But this is for me! I gotta help them because they're my crew. I _can't_ lose my crew." Sanji pauses. There's a severity there that gleams the same way it had in battle the day before; it's a resolution stronger and more casual than something a normal person would say. This kid is something else- just what, though, Sanji doesn't know yet.

Sanji pulls out a stream of smoke and leans back against the wall.

"What's your name, anyway, kid."

"Monkey D. Luffy!"

(Finally. At least he knows his _name._ It's such a small step on the path to proper familiarity taken so late in the game that it almost invalidates itself.)

"You think they can't manage without their captain for a while?"

He blinks at Sanji for a moment before his face splits into a smile.

"I think they'd do fine without me, I can't hold them back, ya know?" Luffy glances around the room and notices the mirror on the dresser. He sends one more flash of his grin to Sanji before ambling over to the mirror and peering into it, probing the bandaids peppered along his cheeks and neck. "It's me that really needs them. I'm pretty hopeless on my own! Or at least that's what Nami says."

Sanji stands by the window while Luffy picks off a few more bandaids and starts unwinding the stained bandages on his hands. Something is turning in his stomach as he watches the discolored skin emerge slowly from beneath bloodied bandages. Luffy's hands aren't the mess that they were yesterday, but they aren't healed either. Sanji wants to smack his probing fingers away and wrap them back up with an extra layer of disinfectant cream. But that would be strange. He's a stranger. So instead he watches as scabs pop open when the bandages pull away and Luffy sticks his knuckles in his mouth to stem the bleeding. Then he makes a face at the taste. Sanji… has an idea.

"Have you ever heard of the All Blue?" It feels like a blurt, coming from everywhere and nowhere in Sanji's own mind. But Luffy doesn't seem to mind or even notice that.

"Nope!" The boy looks up and meets Sanji's eyes in the mirror. "Can you eat it?"

Sanji cracks a smile and leans back against the wall, unable to restrain his joy at the thought of that distant sea.

"Kinda."

"What does it taste like?"

"Fish." There is a distant hum in response to that and Sanji refocuses at the displeasure in it. Still watching through the mirror, he sees the pirate twisting his hands around- examining the damage they suffered in the fight. In the end, though, he presses them against the dresser and leans forward so he can better see a deeper cut that had left a shiny gouge in the skin just under his chin. This is the moment that Sanji knows he is right to be taking action.

"All kinds of fish," He continues as he pushes off the wall and lifts some of the leftover bandages off the bedside table. "That's why it's such an amazing place, there's no other place in all the world that has so many different kinds of fish!" He reaches out and pulls one of the man's hands in front of him. He starts rewrapping it, tightening his grip when the young captain gives a half-hearted tug in something like an attempt to pull away. If he really wanted him to let go Sanji knows he wouldn't have had any trouble.

"What are you doing?" He demands and Sanji shrugs.

"The reason that sea is important to me is that I'm a cook. So many ingredients would be right at my fingertips- it's unbelievable!" He can't stop his own smile as the bandages cover up the red inflammation and the purple bruising. The insistent tugging slows to a stop as Luffy focuses on what he's saying and Sanji weaves the bandage around each finger, up to the knuckle, before ripping it off and reaching for the other hand.

The pirate lets him take it without protest.

"Most people think it's a myth, but I know it's out there. I'm gonna find it one day, for the old geezer if nothing else."

"Let's go find it then!" Luffy cheers, pulling his hand away to pump his fists up and down before Sanji can stop him. Luffy steps away from the dresser, chattering about one thing or another, but Sanji isn't done and he refuses to be cut off before he can make his point. He snatches the unbandaged hand by the wrist and holds it in place. Then, looking Luffy right in the eye he continues.

"Being a cook also means that my hands are really important to me."

Luffy looks somewhere between confused and resigned as Sanji tightens the bandages that had come loose when he'd broken away and then continues with his task.

"In the kitchen, I need complete control over my hands. I won't ever let them get damaged in a fight!" He declares, "And you shouldn't either. You fight with these, they're important, right?"

"Right." The pirate nods. This seems to be familiar territory for him and the confusion has been replaced with resolve. "Without them I can't protect my nakama."

"Then what do you think you're doing?" He snaps the bandage tight around one finger to accentuate his point but is careful to loosen it right after. "You've got to let them heal properly before you use them again. Otherwise, they won't work right."

"Hhm…" He contemplates his bandaged hands for a moment. And then looks at Sanji and outright _beams._ "Thanks!"

Sanji leans back on his heels and turns back towards the balcony, taking a long drag now that he doesn't need to worry about getting his message across. He expects the kid to start talking again, or head for the door, but there is silence and stillness. Luffy waits, expectant. Like he already knows that Sanji is prone to thoughtful silences and isn't really done. Like he already knows that something important has been passed between them, even when Sanji has yet to start thinking of him by his actual name.

Finally-

"Why did you let me?"

"Huh?" Luffy tips his head to the side in endearing confusion. Sanji can't help a slight smile of fondness, is surprised by the strength of the emotion that rises up.

"Why did you let me rewrap your hands if you didn't think you needed the bandages."

"You were talking about your dream, and it sounds pretty cool." Luffy pumps his fists in front of him again and Sanji resists the desire to grab them- just to make him calm down a little. "If I stopped you I might not have gotten to hear all that, so I definitely wanted to listen!"

"And that was enough? You could just take them off now that I'm done again."

"You'd probably try and fix them so I won't bother." Luffy shrugs. "And I don't really mind, anyway. My crew is always trying to fix that kind of thing. Injuries that are already fine. I'm used to it!"

"I'm not-" Sanji starts but Luffy just keeps going.

"And even if you aren't on my crew yet, it's the same thing, really. You care about me, even though it's nothing to worry about." He pauses and looks down at his hands once more, inspecting the bandage work and holding them up in the light. Apparently he likes whatever he's seeing because he turns that blinding smile on Sanji again. "So thanks!"

Sanji had felt like a stranger in all the ways society identified that sort of thing. He barely knows the boy standing in front of his dresser, hadn't remembered his name, had just been trying to repay a debt. But there had been more than that at play, and perhaps they'd been close in all the ways that mattered before Sanji had realized it. Something tells him that Luffy had already known.

"Don't mention it."

* * *

**A/N: Ack, a bit rough, but Sanji had a lot going on that I needed to Cover. So, there it all is! Hope you enjoyed, please leave a review I love them and like replying to them :) So if you wanna chat, haha, I'm just a few sentences away~**


	3. Take Care (of you)

**AN: Have some Luffy pov- good luck!**

* * *

**Take Care (of you)**

* * *

Arlong is several floors below him, curled and cracked on the ground (where he belongs) and Luffy is left kneeling at the edge of the hole, clutching his blood soaked shoulder as it throbs. Gravel is crumbling from the gap in the ceiling and the floor creaks beneath him as he tries to stand, dizzy and shaking. He has to get out of here, he knows from experience that the building is about to collapse; it's not just him that can't stand for very much longer.

Blood and dust and double images. Three stumbled steps toward the hole in the wall before things begin falling to pieces.

He is quickly and irrefutably crushed.

When the world stops shaking there's a slab of wall jammed into his side and his head is being squeezed beneath a bookshelf. It's a little hard to breathe because something heavy is on his chest, and blood is getting in his mouth, dribbling down the side of his face from his forehead.

It's a familiar sensation.

The memories pour in, friendly and familiar, all the times he's been pinned, squashed, crushed, smushed or squeezed and wriggled out to tell the tale. (Not that anyone cared to listen, the bandits usually saw blood and threw bandages at him, Ace always scolded and sometimes helped a little.) He manages a breathy laugh that kind of hurts his chest.

There weren't usually any book shelves involved when he got caught in cave ins and rock slides on Dawn but it's pretty much the same deal, he's rubber so it's not really a problem.

(Though it would be easier if the blood loss wasn't making up seem like down.)

He wriggles an arm free first and braces it against the bookshelf but it starts creaking like it's going to break, and Luffy has to let it back down. Still, his arm is free so he can move more, he stretches his legs until they're thin enough to slide out from beneath the rocks trapping them. With the new leverage and freed legs he forces the wall slab off his stomach.

From there it is all about moving without dropping the weight.

It's kind of like crawling, he takes a step with his feet and then shuffles his hands along to support the new roof, another step, then one with his hands. He shifts the debris out of where he wants to go and into where he was, like those puzzles with sliding pieces that Makino had showed him once. The real problem is finding where 'out' is, was it this way, or that way? Was there one way out or would any way do?

What direction is straight? (He isn't so sure he can do straight right now.)

But he tunnels through anyway, letting the world collapse behind him, until he finds his way to the light.

The last slab falls away and he clambers onto the top of the collapsed building, stooped over for a moment as he breathes fresh air. It takes a second to reacquaint himself with directions. Sky, ground, water, it's all a blur for half a second before comprehending it all makes him a bit dizzy.

But once the world stops spinning a little he can see the people crowded around the walls of Arlong Park and he realizes that they're waiting for him.

Usually people run when things start falling apart but all of the villagers from before, who were watching his fight with Arlong, they are all still there, staring up at him like they're waiting for something.

Could they have been waiting for him to come out? They should have helped hold stuff while he got out. The bandits never helped, but then again, they didn't wait either. (Ace helped.) (Sometimes.)

His eyes wander over the crowd and when he finds Nami he remembers that he wanted to tell her something.

"Nami!" He yells, she's already staring at him, his hat pushed back from her eyes. "You're my nakama!" And she nods (because she knows he's right). The raucous cheer is enveloping and leaves his head ringing in a way he knows it shouldn't (but it stops a minute later so whatever). He's out of the wreckage and now all he's got to do is get down, and that's easy. Or it is so long as he moves slowly. Sometimes he loses track of where the stones he wants to step on are, and sometimes the rocks wobble and move in place so he has to find a different way down.

Back on the ground, things are flat again like they should be. There are still obstacles- people who reach out to him smiling and crying and spilling words he doesn't care enough to listen to. But overall it's easier to move through the crowd then it was down the rocky pile of debris. He sifts through the nameless people, searching for his nakama. There're marines around too, though he doesn't know when they showed up.

He finds them. Nami looks mad and Zoro is drawing his sword so he thinks the marines are being annoying so he helps beat them up (but Sanji gets most of them). Luffy is starting to think that a nap would be a good plan for sooner rather than later.

"Here," something drops onto his head and he turns away from the fight to face Nami. She looks tired but really, really happy, like the last time she found a big bag of treasure (but even more) . "I gave it back."

He reaches up and feels the familiar brim and silky ribbon, grins at her and she smiles back easily.

Then she hits the marine captain in the face and things start happening again.

Everything is great, Nami's back where she belongs (with them) and he thinks that's a doctor talking to (yelling at) Zoro and Usopp is telling a story to some villagers and a pretty girl is talking to Sanji- everyone is in good shape. He's content to watch the islanders spread out to celebrate and to know that his nakama are close by.

Still, he maybe drifts off a little, and he jumps when Nami puts a hand on his unbloodied shoulder.

"You should sit down," She looks a little concerned and Luffy remembers that Nami always gets anxious when he's bleeding. "I've got some bandages."

"Oh. Thanks." He plops down in the dust and Nami sighs, dropping to her knees beside him.

"I'll get the doctor over here when he's done with Zoro but until then…" She fishes a roll of gauze out of her pocket and holds it up "This'll do."

Luffy reaches out a bloodied hand to take them but she snatches her hands back before he can and he glances up at her, confused.

"Oh," He looks down at his hand and then wipes his knuckles off on his pants. "Sorry." Of course she wouldn't want the bandages bloody yet .

"No, no, that's not…" she tries to explain as she swats his hand away. "Luffy, you don't have to bandage it."

The fuzziness in his head insists otherwise and he frowns at her.

"It's bleeding a lot Nami," he tilts his head. "Usually you make me do this stuff even when I don't need it."

"What, no," she says again, exasperation is creeping into her features. "You definitely need to bandage it but why would you-"

"So can I have them?" He reaches forward again.

"No, Luffy, listen!" she pushes his hands away again and holds them, looking him in the eyes. "I mean that you don't have to bandage it, I'll take care of that." She unrolls a length of gauze and gestures at him. "Just, take off your shirt and I'll wrap it."

"But, I can do that. Why should you?" Still, he reaches to unbutton his vest and winces when the movement pulls at the skin around his right shoulder (his skin never wants to stretch like it usually does when he's injured...). Nami sighs and leans forward to unbutton them herself, pushing his hands aside. She goes to slide it off his shoulder but the fabric sticks.

"Sorry about this…" He jerks away as she tries to peel it off.

"Don't do that!" he yelps and she grabs his wrist to keep him from falling over. "It hurts, "

"I know it hurts, but I still have to take the shirt off in order to bandage it!" she snaps back quickly and reaches for his shirt. He leans away again.

"No!"

"Don't be ungrateful, captain." Luffy looks up as Sanji saunters over, cigarette smoking in his fingers. "A beautiful lady is trying to take care of you, it's a great privilege."

"She's doing it wrong!" he whines in return. "It's doesn't hurt like that when I do it!"

"And how do you do it then?" Nami throws up her hands and sits back. "I didn't even know you knew how to bandage yourself- you always make me do it."

"You bandage stupid stuff," he grumbles and then reaches for his shirt, biting his lip hard before finding the hem and yanking it away from his skin.

Nami shrieks and Sanji drops his cigarette with a yell. His shoulder stings but it fades after a moment and he releases his lip, tasting a little bit of fresh blood.

"Why did you do that?" Nami reaches out like she wants to do something but doesn't know what, her face is even more worried than before which Luffy finds a little annoying.

"To get the shirt off."

"Well, that's a stupid way to do it, Captain." Sanji sets his heel gently on Luffy's knee, not a hit but a reprimanding pressure that rests there for a few seconds. "You'll rip off scabs and aggravate the wound."

"Really?"

"Yes, really." Nami grouses. "It's not a bandaid you know, I didn't think enough time had passed to make it really stick but I guess it did… next time we'll use water to loosen it up. Then it shouldn't hurt at all ."

"I'll get some now, Nami-swaaaan!" Sanji bolts upright and turns in a quick circle before bowing to her. "If you wish to take care of our idiot captain then I cannot help but submit to your kind hearted desires! Oi, rubber brain, cooperate."

Luffy watches him walk toward the ruins of Arlong Park before Nami seizes his attention again.

"If this were a final job I'd wash it but I just want to get something on it right now," she is speaking to herself and Luffy sits back on his hands, waiting for her to start wrapping it already. (She's so slow.)

Before he realizes anyone is there Usopp drops down beside him and scooches so close that Luffy is practically sitting on him.

"Hey Luffy, did anyone tell you yet about how I took down one of the officer fishmen?" He starts and Luffy is distracted as he gives Nami his arm to start wrapping.

"No, did you really?"

"Yeah! You wouldn't know because you were still stuck underwater but everyone saw when I took out one of their head fighters, Sanji and Zoro had to team up for the other two but I took mine down all by myself!"

"That's really cool!"

"You bet it is! But it's not even the greatest thing I've done on this island!"

And so Usopp starts talking about the fields of rice that he defended from an army of frogs that wanted to use the paddy fields for their new pond.

"You're such an idiot." Nami says and Usopp quiets. "When you need help you act like it's no big deal, when you really need help you think you have to do it yourself. What is the concept of a crew to you?"

"Friends!" He replies instantly. "Friends who sail with me and go on adventures!"

"And help you," Usopp adds as Nami holds out the end of the roll and frowns first at the few inches remaining bandages and then at the places left uncovered. "A crew is there to support their captain! You don't have to do everything yourself."

He doesn't even notice when Nami finishes wrapping his shoulder until she interrupts them.

"Is there anything else I should look at?"

He thinks for a moment. He's numb enough at this point that he has to remember what parts of the fight probably left an injury and where rather than point where it hurts.

"I can do it later," he decides. "You're gonna make it hurt again."

"No, she won't," Sanji says and appears with a jug of water in one hand and Zoro half hanging off his shoulder. "Look what I found wandering around."

"I wasn't wandering," Zoro protests "The doctor left to get something but he didn't come back... He must have gotten lost…"

Zoro sinks down next to Usopp and slouches down to nap, half leaning into the sniper, Luffy shifts over so there's room.

"I brought you water Nami-swan!" Sanji coos and sets the jug down at her side. "That means it won't hurt this time, stupid." he taps his shoe against Luffy's knee. "And I found more gauze. So just tell us what needs fixing."

"Here, I think," he waves roughly at his left side, the bite Along had gotten in while he was still trying to pull down his leg for the final kick. He doesn't understand why they're all making such a big deal out of this. "But I can do it!"

"You don't get it, Luffy," Usopp laughs softly in his ear. Luffy hadn't realized how much he'd been leaning on him. "You don't have to."

Zoro grunts in agreement. And Sanji gives Nami a handkerchief to use as a washcloth.

"We'll take care of it."

* * *

**AN: This chapter has probably gone through the most rewrites of all the nearly finished drafts I have right now. Like, chapter 2 had 3 big rewrites (?) but this one had like 3 entirely separate versions and then a second ending and even with all the spot edits some parts just never felt right. Anyway, it's been a long time coming but here it is! The line from the summary is one of the original ideas I had for this collection and it makes me teary to see something I've carried for so long out in the open.**

**Next chapter is short (original draft of this that I just liked and had the right themes so I kept it in as a bonus) (Told you this one had a lot going on) so it comes quicker! Comments fuel my fingers~**


	4. Moments Between

**AN: ngl I forgot to update over here on FF after I put this on AO3 last week. Also, I haven't mentioned it before but chapter 1 and this one have some guest art over there. My username is the same so it's not hard to find!**

**This chapter is tiny but I wrote it and it's not horrible so I'm including it. It's essentially first draft chapter 3 but I ended up digging deeper and following slightly different themes.**

* * *

**Moments Between**

* * *

Zoro grits his teeth as the waves roll past him, out of the Arlong Park pool and into the ocean. The cacophony is large chunks of stone dropping into the pool and clashing against each other; the whole island must hear it falling.

It stops, coming to rest in its dilapidated pile, morose and hopeless, entirely quiet.

Zoro can't see it but he can feel it. Feel the pressure that sings of finality, feel the tremulous hope that breathes of salvation, feel the fear that raises horror and dread and end.

He can feel it all, the tension, the held breaths of the villagers.

They're waiting. Because Luffy isn't out yet.

Arlong isn't either but that's secondary.

After all, with Luffy there is always a chance, and that's what people look for first: a hope.

He can feel the pressure rising, the anxiety, the fear, and he almost wants to laugh. There's nothing to worry about, not really. He wouldn't follow a wimp that could die that easily. He hadn't followed one this far.

He leaves his eyes closed, tries to ignore the effort it takes to breathe and listens for the sounds of rocks shifting.

Because that will be Luffy rising from the rubble.

It will.

* * *

To her the world is silent. Lying in wait. The straw hat on her head is made of a thousand straws that broke the camel's back and it's weighing her down, weighing the whole world down.

This second that lies before her, she just has to live through it, and surely she'll see a miracle. Surely Luffy will come out on top and Arlong will have met his match and her world which has been in constant turmoil for seven years will finally reach a point of rest.

A point where she doesn't have to hold on for that one more second.

Where she can continue for whole minutes, hours, days, without hurting beneath the pressure of time passing.

But these last few seconds seem the heaviest of all.

Waiting for him to come back and take his heavy hat off her head.

Waiting for this weight she's carried for years to be lifted away.

* * *

Usopp is burnt and bloody and more than a little bruised but he's the happiest person in the entire world when that final rock shifts away and _Luffy. _

_"Luffy!" _He joins the chorus gleefully, ecstatic at the fact that his rubber-brained friend is _alive! _Alive. He made it, he did it! They're amazing, wow, how great?! They just saved a whole island?! And Usopp helped! He took out one of the main men, even _Zoro _needed help on this one but Luffy had pulled through alright.

He grins up at his captain standing at the zenith of the wreckage, his conquered castle. He looks every bit the holder of a hard earned victory, bloody and shaking with heavy breaths.

(Well, Luffy'd pulled through _mostly _alright.)

The man wavers for a moment before bending over, bracing his arms on his knees and coughing. The sound echoes and the crowd quiets he sits there for a moment breathing. Usopp feels dread and fear return in a wave of overwhelming worry.

_Was _he alright?

* * *

It takes Sanji a moment to locate his new captain because he's standing off to the side, still and quiet, his expression a little lost. Sanji frowns and takes a step forward, mind instantly going back to the moments when the guy had just woken up after his battle with Don Krieg.

_Sorry, we don't have many bandages. _

_Don't need 'em. _

It'd seemed a little weird given how injured he'd been by the battle but in all honesty, he hadn't needed all of them. Most of the wounds had scabbed over while he was sleeping and the burns from the bombs had all but disappeared.

This time there is still blood running in rivulets down his arms and Sanji recognizes the confusion on the edge of his expression as a combination of exhaustion and pain. But he still hasn't done anything to take care of his injuries.

Before he makes it much further his eye is caught by the blue-haired beauty who Nami calls her sister (what a beautiful pair of angels!) She had been standing by while Nami spoke with another villager but now she leans forward and whispers in her sister's ear. Nami jerks away from the scarred man and whips around to look straight at Luffy.

He doesn't seem to notice.

Nami laughs shortly and runs a hand through her hair, saying something to the pair before moving toward her captain with quiet steps.

Sanji turns away and lights a cigarette.

It's taken care of.

* * *

**AN: Feel free to leave a review if you're so inclined : ) I mean, if you hate it don't bother but this project is very near and dear to my heart so I like to hear other's opinions on it!**


	5. Fire and Ice

**A/N: Set pre-Nami's sickness post Little Garden. I'm probably gonna edit this later : ' )**

**Big thanks to the guest reviewer who went through all the chaps! You warm my heart~**

* * *

**Fire and Ice**

* * *

It's only hours after Little Garden but Vivi decides that it's time the straw hats understand what they've gotten themselves into. She can't have them going in unprepared, they'd lose, they'd die, her country would die…

She won't let that happen.

She might not have much but if they're really going to save her country then she needs to give them the same scraps of information that she has. After all, people are paid to be tight lipped in Baroque Works (and if money doesn't work then Crocodile has other methods). Things like the battle strategies of the other number agents, or who runs the resistance in Alabasta, or who Crocodile is, at least to the people… She needs to help them prepare.

"'Prepare' me by telling me more about how the weather here works, that way we can get there as fast as you need." Nami waves her off when she brings it up. "And we can escape when it all starts falling apart."

"Alabasta won't fall," Vivi insists and Nami blinks at her for a moment before laughing.

"Not Alabasta, just, whatever we get going." She tries to explain. "I don't remember the last time we weren't running when we left some place." She waves off Vivi's confusion, "You'll understand after a while."

Vivi sighs, even Nami, undoubtedly the most rational of the crew isn't very concerned about the situation, at least not now, when they are safe under the guise of Sanji-kun's false report. She's really starting to wonder if she was right to ask this crew for their help. Not that she had many choices...

"Sorry Vivi," Nami apologizes absently as a twitch in the log pose needle distracts her. "Uh, if you want to talk about fighting go find Zoro or Luffy."

But when she comes to stand over the swordsman, asleep on deck, he hardly stirs.

"Mr. Bushido," She starts, "I was hoping that we could talk about the group that is threatening Alabasta-"

Zoro interrupts her with a snore.

It's likely best if she talks to the captain first anyhow.

Vivi finds him hiding in a shadow on deck. His limbs are splayed out around him in an almost artful display of his impressive array of scrapes. She can tell he's not asleep because he's not snoring, but his eyes are closed and he's breathing softly, like he's trying to pass it off.

"Luffy!" He bolts upright, eyes wide and on guard, not the 'there's an enemy threatening me' kind of on guard but the, 'someone just caught me doing something I shouldn't be doing' kind of on guard- that is, heavy defense mode. Her intended question fades from her lips. Can she talk to him for a moment? No. "What are you doing?"

"Napping!" He blurts and Vivi crosses her arms. He'd unbuttoned his shirt for his nap and now it's practically falling off. She doesn't think it's a coincidence that beneath it his shoulders are an ugly shade of red and look a little bit shiny… sunburn?

"You're napping, really? You usually sleep with Mr. Bushido in the sunshine."

He shrugs, "I was getting hot so I moved."

It's interesting how well he's lying this time around, but it's still not well enough. He's dropped back onto the ground and is grumbling to himself about her interruption, not paying much attention to if hse's really listening or not. She takes the opportunity to crouch down beside him and pinch his arm which is stretched out near her foot, he tenses at her touch and bites his lip. She's closer now, and she's touched him, and suddenly she can tell. They glare at each other.

"You're burned!" she accuses while he slaps her hand away with a slight hiss. "What happened that you got so badly burned! Look at this," She reaches forward and lifts his arm, all around his arms and the back side of his legs are puffy and bright red, she's amazed she missed it until now. "It's _everywhere_! Why didn't you tell someone?"

"They're only first degree." He's looking away now and Vivi can hardly believe it, who does this to themselves? Why let yourself suffer?

"Come on," She straightens and holds out her hands for him to grab. He looks at her carefully, one of the first times she's seen him even _seem_ wary, before he takes the offered help and she pulls him to his feet. "We've got to get you fixed up."

He ducks his head beneath the straw hat and leans back against the wall. Gingerly, she notes, like the pressure hurts his skin. "I don't need fixing, I'm fine."

"Don't give me that, if you're going to fight against Crocodile then you need to be in the best condition you can be. You can't hope to fight him and win with those burns. You can hardly move! We'll ask Nami for some salve, I'll draw some water…" She pauses, trying to think of a way to convince him to go with it. "We can do it outside if you want."

He's downright suspicious now but she's not going to give him a choice on this one. He has to take care of himself, otherwise who will 'take care' of Crocodile?

"Do what outside?"

"The ice bath, of course." The look on his face is something between incredulity and despair.

"No way! A bath isn't going to make me feel better, a bath will make me feel…" He considered for a moment, lip curling at the thought, "Icky! And _tired_."

"It'll also cool you off." He pouts but she ignores it. "Luffy, you've got burns all over the place, it'd be easier to do a bath than making all of the ice packs. Cooling off is the first step to soothing a burn. You have a lot of burns to soothe and we don't have much time before we get to Alabasta." Still, he shakes his head adamantly and she crosses her arms. "It won't be for long."

"Don't care, they don't hurt _that_ much."

"What, enough for you to take a bath?"

"_Yeah._"

She frowns at him and he glares right back, he's not giving in but she can tell that he really is hurting, he's holding his arms away from his body and when he moves it's an uncomfortable shift. She still can't figure out where he got them from. Little Garden is the only option, but she, Nami, and Zoro were the only ones in the fire, where had he gotten burnt…?

"These are from Usopp-san!" She snaps her fingers at the realization and he winces, deflates. "When he burned Miss Goldenweek's mark off your shirt!"

"Shh!" He's at her side in a flash, herding her into the corner with him. "You can't say it so loud, Usopp will hear!"

"Usopp-san…" She stops and stares at him, wide eyed, "You don't want Usopp-san to know he burned you?" Luffy hesitates and then nods carefully.

"They don't hurt that much, really, but Usopp will feel really bad about it. He's already upset because he had to set you guys on fire…"

Vivi is a little happy about that (it was one of the worst orchestrated rescues she's ever seen) but she also understands why he did what he did, and she recognizes why Usopp would feel even worse for burning Luffy so badly.

Still.

"It doesn't matter," She straightens her shoulders and finds her princess persona rising to give the orders. "You need to do _something_ about them." Though maybe doing it on deck wouldn't be as appealing to him as she'd thought. If he didn't want Usopp to see that he was burned then it'd be better if they went inside, somewhere that Usopp would have no idea anything had ever happened.

Luffy has already got his mouth open, and she can tell by the look in his eye that she's got an angry retort coming her way, so she interrupts him quickly. "I'm sure Nami-san will allow us to use her room for this occasion."

Luffy looks at her for a moment, clearly trying to process the shift in the situation.

"...It's your room too ya know." He finally settles on.

Vivi shrugs, takes his hand, and pulls him toward the hatch to head below deck.

"For a little while, yes, I know."

* * *

Vivi shakes the second, and final, bag of ice into the bathtub, the cubes float merrily along the tiny waves that are made and clack against the sides.

Luffy glares hatefully at the tub from across the room.

When Vivi had first pushed Luffy into the room Nami had been all too eager to get him back out, but Vivi's clipped explanation and a closer inspection of her captain had Nami scolding him fiercely while Vivi fetched the ice.

Now he's standing in his jean shorts, arms held carefully away from his sides as Nami lectures, pacing around the room.

"What was the first thing we did to Zoro after we got back to the ship?" Nami asks again and Luffy grumbles for a moment before answering.

"Bandaged his ankles."

"_After _that,"

"... put the green paste on his hands."

"And his back and his arms and his legs," Nami grumbled. "But yes, and that's what Vivi and I did too, put on _burn_ salve. If we had enough ice all three of us would have put ice on our burns but we didn't so we just put on salve."

"But if I put that stuff on Usopp'll be able to tell!"

"Which is why we're using all of this ice for _you,_"

"I don't need any of this stuff!"

Nami frowns at him and grabs his wrist, when she stretches out his arm the skin around his shoulders and under arms goes taught and the red shines.

Luffy bites his lip.

"Don't hurt him, Nami," Vivi scolds, "He was just worried about Usopp."

"You haven't been around him as much as I have Vivi," Nami growls, "He _really _needs to learn how to worry about himself. This is getting old."

Vivi frowns at her but doesn't say anything, just waves Luffy over to the tub. He glances at Vivi doubtfully and she nods him forward. With a low groan he slips off his sandals and steps over the rim. The moment his foot touches the surface he pulls it back out, "It's cold!"

"It's supposed to be, get in!" Nami comes over and pushes him down, his gasp is delayed by about ten seconds as he begins to shiver and his teeth chatter.

"I-it's-s-s-s really c-c-cold-d," he glares at them, "and they st-till hurt-t!"

"Sit there for a couple minutes," Nami orders and Vivi reaches a hand in and splashes water up to his chest.

"When you're done we're going to put salve on your shoulders," Vivi tells him as she runs a wet washcloth along his shoulders; they go rigid at her words.

"But Usopp-"

"None anywhere else, just where they'll be covered by your shirt," Vivi promises. He grumbles unintelligibly and fixes his gaze on some point in the distance, steadfastly ignoring the both of them.

At first Luffy maintains his stoic position while Nami idly splashes water around the tub in half hearted attempts to make him laugh, but slowly he begins to wilt and tip to the side. Nami catches his shoulder and holds him straight.

"S-sorry," he murmurs as his eyes droop and the two women exchange glances.

"It's the water," Vivi whispers, "Still water weakens devil fruit users whether it's sea water or not."

"I didn't know that," Nami gasps, turning on Luffy, "Why didn't you tell us that?"

She slaps his arm and he whines before sinking into the water another inch. She grinds her teeth before grabbing a towel from behind her.

"Alright, that's good," Nami announces, flapping it out and holding it up. Luffy glances up at her and blinks slowly, like he doesn't know what the towel is for. She sighs "You can get out now."

Luffy nods weakly and tries to get to his feet, his shorts drip water as he stands and wobbles in place, Vivi steadies him with a light hand on his shoulder.

When they eventually get him bundled into a towel and give him the salve to rub in he's moody but aware, and as he slathers green goop onto his shoulders Nami holds out her hand for Vivi to shake.

"Good job Vivi, if you hadn't noticed who knows how long it would have taken us to get them taken care of. You're officially an honorary straw hat if you can detect when he's hiding an injury and successfully get him to take care of it. Congratulations."

Bashfully, Vivi takes the hand and shakes, a small smile appearing as Luffy mutters childish insults about the both of them.

"I'm not putting any on my arms," He holds the tub out for Nami to take back. "They're not burned that bad."

"We already told you you didn't have to." Vivi takes the tub and Luffy shrugs.

"Alright," Nami decides. "I guess you're done." She doesn't look happy about it. "Next time you get hurt tell us okay? Don't make us go figure it out." He hums noncommittally and she steps on his foot. "I'm serious!" He glares at her and she plops down in the other chair, holding his knee and looking him straight in the eye. "Usopp wouldn't like to hear that he burned you, but I promise, he would be a lot more upset if he knew that he hurt you and then you kept hurting because you didn't want to hurt him. Do you understand? We'd all feel like that, so don't go hiding stuff like this. Alright?"

He tears himself free of her gaze and looks at his hands, twiddling his thumbs in his lap. "Yeah, Nami, I get it." He smiles at Vivi, probably because he thinks she's less likely to hit him. "I'll be more careful."

"Then get going." She sits back and tosses his shirt at his face. He laughs and catches it, sliding it on easily and disappearing out the door before Vivi can blink. The both of them smile for a second as a loud crash resounds from above deck.

"Feeling better already," Vivi notes happily but Nami flops backward onto her bed, groaning.

"He's such a liar," She rubs her temples, short hair splayed around her head like an orange halo.

"I don't know, I think he meant it." Vivi tries.

"Like I said, you don't know him. Of course he means it now, you'd _really _be able to tell if he was _trying _to lie," A smile glows on her face for an instant but it withers quickly. "The problem is that he'll forget. To him that stuff doesn't matter, he doesn't think about it, that's why it's our job to keep track of it for him." She sighs again and stands up. "I think I'm going to take a nap, he's such a headache…" A yell comes from above deck and Nami's shoulders tense. "Nevermind, storm coming." She follows Luffy's example and heads out but Vivi stands for just a minute more, thinking about pirate captains that endure pain rather than hurt their crew's feelings and navigators that hit people when they want them to get better.

It's a strange crew that she's become an honorary member of.

* * *

**AN: I'm gonna try to edit and update one of my other fics, What Makes a Monster, because I really like it but it needs a touch up. It's got some similar themes to this collection but it's longer than the usual shot and technically Chopper centric but it's got enough Luffy to qualify haha. It also fits chronologically roght after this chapter. Anyway, keep an eye out for that and _then_ the update for this collection with the first of a bajillion Alabasta focused shots. Srsly, there are so many for Alabasta.**

**Thanks for reading please let me know what you think : )**


	6. Familiar Fixture

**AN: Welcome to Alabasta, we're gonna be here for a minute.**

**Thank you to the guest who reviewed all the chapters! It warms my heart and I'm glad you like the choices I'm making**

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**Familiar Fixture**

* * *

Chopper hopes that, eventually, he'll be able to see more than scars and frostbite on his new captain's skin.

It's just- that's the first impression. Luffy appeared on his doorstep, dying in the cold, hands and feet shredded from the ice and snow. Two people were with him but being unconscious they hardly made an impression. Luffy, however, made an impression. He asked Chopper to take care of his friends.

Two days later, Drum, the only home he's ever known, has disappeared over the starboard bow hours ago. He's rewrapping Luffy's hands with fresh bandages, and all he can see is where there were blood trails. All he can hear is the echo of his pleading. They're much improved, but it's a relief when he has them settled again. It means they can heal undisturbed.

Except, a day or so later the bandages are gone. This would be fine, because Chopper cleared Luffy of most injuries the night before and unwrapped those bandages himself. But he didn't unwrap them _all _. And they are _all _gone. And Chopper's newest patient has just slipped past 'troublesome' to hit a solid 'aggravating'

"HEY." Luffy's shoulders seize up from his perch on the ship's railing. Usopp beside him casts him a cursory glance which shows absolutely no pity.

This has become a regular occurrence.

"Luffy! Go let Chopper fix it!" Nami orders from where she is studying the angles of the sails. Usopp nudges him when he shows no sign of movement and with an exaggerated sigh Luffy hands the pole off to his sniper and slides back onto the deck.

Chopper is waiting for him at the top of the stairs, tapping his hoof, Sanji a black cloud of wrath beside him.

Luffy holds out his hands and, while Chopper's displeasure stands clear on his face as he begins rewrapping them, Sanji's withers away into a mixture of pity and mourning at the sight of his captain's cracked nails, black and blue skin, and torn apart fingertips.

"Don't they hurt?" He demands as each finger disappears beneath a layer of white, wrapped around the knuckles looser than the rest so that Luffy can still use his hands (though he's not really supposed to- Chopper just knows that the less limitations the bandages pose, the less Luffy will try to be rid of them).

Luffy shrugs.

"A little. Hurts more when my knuckles get torn up from punching. They'll get better."

"They'll heal a lot faster if you leave the bandages on," Chopper scolds. "So make sure not to take them off this time!" Luffy nods in acquiescence but before he can pull away Sanji hooks his foot around his ankle.

"Luffy." The captain pauses in his retreat and watches Sanji take a puff of smoke to steady himself before continuing. "If they're still on by dinnertime I'll give you an extra serving of meat."

"Wow, really!" Luffy's repressed mood bounces back into cheer at once. "Thanks Sanji!" The cook stumbles backward as he receives an armful of excitable rubber pirate, chattering on about how he has the best cook ever and thanks a ton!

"Yeah, yeah. The longer you keep your hands out of harm's way the more food I'll give you, okay?"

"Alright!" Luffy pumps his fist and beams at them both. "You guys are great!" Chopper stutters out a denial and Sanji gives a curt nod before turning back into the Merry with a slightly lighter stamp to his step. Luffy vaults back over to the railing and takes his fishing pole from Usopp who takes the opportunity to inspect Luffy's hands again.

Chopper has accomplished what they've all been dreaming of since the day they met one accident-prone Monkey D. Luffy. Something close to a proper healthcare system.

("Most of the lesions from the frostbite are already scabbed over but I t-thought it best to protect them for a day or two more." Chopper had explained that first morning, when Usopp inquired as to why their captain was sporting so many bandages he looked mummified. "His body heals fast but he'll run himself ragged without adequate rest and care." He'd been surprised and flustered when Nami had pronounced him perfect for his new position and roused the whole crew in a round of applause.

"They can't help it, Tony-kun." Vivi had laughed at his expression as the others called out everything from congratulations to consolation for his coming headaches. "They're happy they can finally help him the way he always helps them.")

It's hard to say why he listens to Chopper when he, at best, tolerates all the rest of them. Sure, Luffy had always let them bandage and bundle and scold and listened to them with something like understanding- but that attention had always been gone before long. Chopper is well informed of their past attempts. Sanji couldn't keep him as hydrated as he'd like, Nami couldn't keep a bandage on him as long as he should leave them, and Zoro had often been accompanied to his late-night watches no matter how much Luffy needed to sleep off some ailment or another. They'd tried bribery before, but Luffy had always tended to forget- either that there was a reward for resting or that he was hurt in the first place. They'd tried threats of debt and chores and even used Usopp's stories as a bargaining chip, but Luffy forgot the threats even faster than he forgot the bribes and reacted sourly with the results. They'd all taken shifts as Luffy sitters when he'd torn himself apart in one way or another and by the end of two or three days he'd usually slipped back into his typical habits no matter their efforts. All his arching scars and weeping cuts and slightly too wobbly steps were put proudly on display as he tried to ignore them.

But Chopper is determined to keep these first bandages wrapped snugly around every finger for exactly as long as he wants them there, even if he sometimes has to rewrap them two or three times a day.

It becomes familiar to them all, in the way that all things on a ship become familiar after days without escaping them, for Luffy to be heralded by a flash of white or brush of cotton. When he talks, always accompanied by frantic gesticulations, when he reaches across the deck to pull himself to the railing or launch himself into the crows nest, when, at dinner, he reaches for something on another's plate, halfway across the room. They couldn't have ignored them if they wanted to, and they _don't _want to.

So when Nami is leaning against the railing and Luffy's fingers shoot past her to wrap around the wood at her elbow she grabs his wrist and makes him stop and talk to her before he goes to do something else. Usopp coerces him into doing some art things with him, occupying him with frantic brush strokes or fervent pencil scribbling. Anything to keep his absent fingers from picking at the wrappings. Anything to keep his antics from dislodging the bandages that protect him from everything he does.

And where in the past the bandages fell to the wayside in the passage of time and waning of the crew's insistence, Chopper keeps up with it.

For days they are a constant fixture and soon they become commonplace. But they are no less inconspicuous than Monkey D. Luffy himself. Chopper feels as though he's accomplished something good, and is assured of this by all his new crewmates.

That first impression never goes away completely, and very rarely (in all the years that will follow) is Luffy completely injury free. Still, the bitter memory of chattering teeth and a ragged plea becomes something else: a reminder of what Luffy will push himself to if his crew isn't there to hold him up. It's also proof to Chopper of what he's worth now, just like Nami and Sanji and all his other new crewmates. He's someone worth everything to his captain. Worth climbing mountains, waging wars, and, according to Usopp, worth taming the fiercest sea monsters the Grand Line has to offer. And Chopper, in turn, thinks Luffy's worth that and more.

* * *

For half the time Vivi knows him, Luffy's hands are heavily bandaged.

For at least three quarters of the time she knows him, Luffy has _something _bandaged. A bandaid pasted across his cheek or a sliver of white peeking out from the collar of his shirt seems just as familiar as the slap of his sandals and the curve of his smile. It's Nami's constant battle (until it's not and she's sick and then they have Chopper who's even _more _diligent about it) and indeed maybe sometimes it's overkill, but Vivi understands. It's easy to think that, maybe, more care now will make up for what none of them were around for, and protect him in the future. The point is Vivi gets used to them.

His hands are wrapped as he waves, running across the city of Nanohana to reach them with a marine captain hot on his heels.

His hands are wrapped as he shows the duongs a proper fighting form, and then salutes to them, as they part.

His hands are wrapped as the sun beats down and he lags behind, complaining of the heat. Fingers pulling at them in frustration because they're like _gloves _and the last thing he wants what with sweat dripping from every pore.. But he leaves them on because taking them off just means that they have to stop while Chopper pulls himself together enough to redo them.

(They're wrapped when she slaps him for telling her she's a fool. Maybe she is, but she'd rather be a hopeful fool than surrender her home to certain collapse. He may not care for her people, and he may not have the compassion or the priorities of a ruler whose country is on the verge of civil war, but she refuses to feel shame for what she knows is right for her own heart. Luffy is a fighter and a pirate captain and he's proven that he excels in both. She will let him be what he is, but she will not let him tell her she is wrong to strive to avoid sacrifice.)

Luffy's hands are still wrapped in grimy, fraying cotton, even as Crocodile's hook catches her around the middle. For an instant, that smooth loop of metal traps her, drags her back when she has to move _forward _. And then it is gone. Replaced by sensations so familiar she almost expects them. It's the flash of white in her peripheral vision and the brush of fabric on the back of her neck as Luffy hooks his grip into her shirt collar. They're as friendly and kind as they are coarse and violent. He pulls her away from the man who is threatening everything she loves and selfishly plops himself into her place.

And they are wrapped (and also ripped and bloody and crusted in sand) when Vivi is falling, and she thinks that everything is over. They catch her around the waist and tug her close to him as Pell soars away from the ground.

(They're gone, when they're finally back in the palace and the best physicians Vivi can find are trying to piece all her friends back together. Chopper, who's in better shape than most of them but overwhelmed with the sudden weight of his responsibility, is frantic and focusing on Luffy alone. Where the aftermath has swept them all up and spit them all out worse for wear, Luffy is a familiar case. He spends a full five minutes ranting at his captain's unconscious face about the absent bandages, and then another five crying as he covers over newly bloodied knuckles and moves on to the next wound on the triage list.)

It feels almost strange, after it's all done, when Chopper unwinds the bandages and lays his hands back down on the blankets- free of cotton. Two days of constant rest have done all of Luffy's injuries a lot of good, though it makes Vivi anxious to see him so still for so long, and it finally pushes that particular healing process over the finish line. Drum Island has no hold on him anymore. He'll be happy to find himself free of them when he wakes up, she's certain. She can't repress the surge of pride when she sees them, free of scabs and dried blood, though not without faint scars. It was worth all the scolding and the careful rewrapping and the pleading insistence they'd put into the matter. Luffy was there when he needed to be, bandages and all.

His hands are healed, having weathered the storm he brews wherever he goes, and that small mercy is worth all the attention she (and all his crew) paid.

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**AN: ****Let me know what you think! This one took a few tries but once I had it it came together really quickly. I'm pleased : )**


	7. Collapse

**A/N: ****Here's another Alabasta shot. Trigger warning for suicide ideation in this chapter. But please enjoy Robin! I'm excited to get her in here.**

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**Collapse**

* * *

It seems that the world is falling apart.

She was never truly unconscious but she is suddenly aware (that is, more so then she had been) of all that is happening around her. Of the thick fog of dust in the air, like it is an atmospheric condition and not floating debris that will disperse and settle. Of the blood trickling from the hole in her shoulder, down her arm in streams, but drying already and collecting sand. Of the steady rumble of collapsing stone and weakening supports.

Of the man she's called her leader for two years now, flying out of sight, through the bedrock, and of the boy who defeated him falling back into the tomb, beneath the earth, where she is fairly certain they will all remain for a very long time.

Straw hat Luffy hits the ground and bounces, tumbling among the slabs of stone and cascading dust and dripping blood, limp in the throes of inertia. She finds it hard to believe that he is still alive. Cobra, however, scrambles to his side, spends a tense moment looking him over before he gasps and leans closer.

And since she has always been imprudently curious, she summons a phantom ear beside him to hear what he says.

"You did it," as always the sound floats to her from afar, less like her ear is right there and more like it travels across den den mushi waves to reach her understanding. "You did it," the king repeats, "Crocodile is defeated, the people are saved… thank you…"

And then, even more startling.

"Don't mention it!"

He's awake.

Amazed, she summons an eye as well, though she feels she must be imagining things when she sees the smile on his face. It glimmers, carefree and happy, despite the world crashing down around them (and not just hers which has been in disrepair for quite sometime).

"I owe you so much, and Vivi too, it seems. She's here? You brought her back?"

"Yeah-" A hacking cough that she knows is a symptom of the poison interrupts him, "She wanted to come home…"

"I owe you so much," Cobra repeats in a whisper but Straw hat drifts off as he speaks, eyes slipping shut with a slurred mumble of "tire'd…"

Robin notes that he is in very bad shape.

His voice had been scratchy and hoarse when he spoke, and now, in his sleep (unconscious state) his breaths come in rough gasps. His hands are more red coated than clean skin (which she believes was his strategy but is still fairly disconcerting) and the wound in his abdomen is apparently reopened as there is a darker shade of red to his shirt in the general area. Sweat soaked and sand encrusted, his whole body is filthy and limp with exhaustion.

His complexion is starting to develop a greenish tinge and she makes a split-second decision.

From her cleavage she draws out the bottle of the antidote she kept on her in case Crocodile decided to kill her with his poison hook. It seemed that she hadn't needed to worry (just the regular hook had done the job) but that was not so for straw hat, and now the antidote was useless to her. She was going to die here and even if she didn't Crocodile was no longer a threat to her. Silently, she bloomed phantom hands to carry it over to Cobra before setting it on the ground and rolling it the rest of the way, the glass bottle crunching over the sand and pebbles.

Cobra looked up at her in surprise, then down at the glass bottle.

"What-"

"Pour it into his mouth," she instructs, "It's the antidote to the poison in Crocodile's hook."

A look of determination falls over Cobra's face and he nods, picking up the bottle and uncorking it before gently maneuvering the bottle to the young pirate's lips.

She supposes that with the pirate captain already dying he has no reason to distrust her.

(Though he really does.)

Straw hat puts up no fuss as Cobra tips the contents of the bottle to trickle through his lips, not even a cough or a stutter. He just lies there silently, and Robin feels just slightly disturbed at the stillness of the man who had still been lively hours after being stabbed straight through and buried in quicksand.

"Will he be alright?" Cobra asks, "With the poison in his system for so long-"

"He might die." Robin concedes. "But if it works he has a chance of surviving where we don't. Because of his rubber body the rocks won't crush him. His crew might find him."

"I don't think he's in any shape to survive a cave-in…"

"He wasn't in any shape to fight Crocodile at all. He's still alive."

Cobra muttered something that might have been 'for how long?' but seemed to be done with the trivial speculations.

He turned to look at her and his expression was solemn.

"Why did you lie to Crocodile about what was written on the poneglyph?"

She couldn't stop the pang of shock and disappointment that rang in her chest. He'd known, all this time at Crocodile's side waiting, holding on to this withering hope, and he'd known that it was only what Crocodile had expected, nothing about the True History at all.

She was so glad that she didn't have to try anymore.

"I have no desire to help Crocodile, nor to see this country fall." she admitted and could already feel his anger at the idea that she hadn't even _tried _to destroy everything he was responsible for protecting. "I only hoped to read the poneglyph, I was hoping that it would tell me about the True History."

"The True History…?"

"What events passed during that blank stretch of years? The Void Century?" She shook her head, lamenting. "Knowledge and wisdom lost to the passage of time, except, it seems, on the poneglyphs on which that time was transcribed."

"The Void Century," Cobra repeated, as if only just now considering that there were things of importance that could have occurred during that time. "But this poneglyph wasn't…"

"No, this poneglyph displays detailed records and instructions on the subject of the Ancient Weapon, Pluton." Robin agreed quietly, "Most of the others I have read have similar such messages, or are records from just after the void century or are simply folklore for the land I find it in." She sighed, leaning her head back against the rock wall, feeling it shake. "I can't search any further. Too many of my hopes have been crushed. I've made too many sacrifices for a false lead. The True History remains, and will to me forever remain, unfound."

Cobra didn't say anything and she appreciated his respect for her decision to die rather than to fail again.

They were silent, the caverns collapsing around them, Robin didn't flinch when a hunk of rock the size of her head thudded into the ground inches from her hand. She couldn't wait till it was over, but she wondered how the afterlife worked. Would she be welcome in Hell? Certainly not in heaven. Would she be a ghost?

Would she see when one day the True History was revealed? Would she see if Straw Hat got rescued?

At that thought she glanced over at the pirate, wondering if perhaps he was already dead?

Instead, it appeared that he was getting to his feet.

"Don't stand up!" Cobra realized as soon as he saw what the young pirate was doing. "You're very injured-"

"This place is collapsing," Robin interrupted him. "Let him move."

He can't be any more dead, after all.

He moved slowly and shakily, almost blindly as he fumbled with the world around him, crumbling at his touch.

He turned in a full circle before his eyes landed on Cobra, sitting on the ground beside him. Silently, he reached down and pulled the old king to his feet, ignoring his protests.

Robin closed her eyes, tired of thinking, of feeling anything at all, and for a moment she drifted to someplace far away, where none of it concerned her anymore.

She was drawn back by a sharp pain, the pulsing of an aggravated wound, and when she opened her eyes she was laid over the young pirate's shoulder. She wondered distantly if he knew he couldn't collect her bounty because he had his own bounty.

"Put me down!" There was no use saving her, she didn't want to live, he'd never make it out with her. His chances were already slim but with her and Cobra? Never. "What right do you have to make me live?"

There was a moment's silence as the pirate carried them back toward the hole he'd blown in the ceiling, staring up at the craggy edges and falling debris. He didn't even look at her.

"Why should I care what you want?"

And he took off.

Robin could feel his muscles spasming beneath her body, the poison battling against the antidote and the body trying to recover. Each breath he took inflated his chest more than most and Robin recognized it as subconscious use of his devil fruit powers. He couldn't breathe right, so he expanded his lungs to allow more airflow (fascinating). He pulled them up by the gaps and ledges left by rocks that had fallen away. He moved quickly, pushing off rocks even as they dropped into the collapsing cavern, using them as stepping stones on a moving set of stairs, falling beneath them as Straw Hat Luffy trudged stubbornly up.

She blinked and they were there, at the top, out. In the hazy gray afternoon and the drizzling rain that was quickly becoming a downpour.

He set her on her feet but she quickly tumbled forward, her knees too weak to support her own weight. Her head spun continuously, like a gyroscope unable to align with gravity. Cobra was kneeling beside her, holding his hands out as rain drops pooled in his palms. Behind her Straw Hat was swaying in the wind, staring up at the clouds as they cried.

He was falling, she realized. He was falling back into the hole which he'd only just crawled out of, teetering on the crumbling precipice as his eyes slipped closed and his smile stretched wide.

She reached out and caught his hand as he began to topple.

It took a moment of him hanging over the abyss for her to remember that she still had to pull him back over land and when she did she realized that she'd half lunged from her place on the ground to catch him. Slightly unnerved at her own subconscious' actions she summoned phantom arms to maneuver him back over solid ground and feebly tugged him to the best shelter available, a tattered awning, while Cobra laughed wildly and smiled at the heavens, cupping his hands to let the rain fall into them.

She rolled the young pirate over and braced her arm against the ground next to him as her shoulder throbbed and bled rapidly, glaring down at the boy that wanted to live, that she'd now saved _three times _and who refused to leave her in the peace which had been just within her grasp.

_You owe me, Monkey D. Luffy, _she thought angrily as she stared down at his bloody face. _I will make sure that you live, and I will make sure you repay me for every day more I am forced to endure thanks to you. _

He would live, she was confident that Cobra would ensure it, but her own actions and needs were the only things she was certain of in this world. She collected her debts, and no matter what happened this imprudent boy would live.

She would make him live, and he would pay her back.

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**A/N: ****Feel free to drop a comment and tell me what you think! I love to chat~**


	8. Collecting the Pieces

**A/N: ****This is, for some reason, my favorite chapter. I dunno why, but I think I really did this one right. I hope yu all enjoy it as much as I do!**

**Please stay safe and calm out there amidst the madness! My well-wishes go out to all of you~**

* * *

**Collecting the Pieces**

* * *

_Drip._

_Drip._

_Drip._

Usopp's eyes flutter open at the persistent plop of rain dripping onto his forehead from the edge of the roof hovering over him. He's already drenched because the water has obviously been soaking into his bandages for at least an hour and now he feels soggy and _icky_ and he's not sure he has the range of motion to sit up or roll over or do _anything._ He turns his head slightly, trying to see his surroundings and winces when the drop starts hitting his cheek like a young child who wants attention. Around him are some blurry shapes, some under and some out from under the shadow he thinks is an awning and after a little more squinting and blinking he can make out _who_ the shapes are and-

He bolts upright, heart stammering as he takes in the situation and dissolves into a mixture of panic and relief.

Relief, that it's his crewmates that are surrounding him, panic, that they're all right beside him _unconscious _and in the street.

_Vivi, _he mentally seethes, _I know we said that we'd meet you at the castle but did you really believe that lie?_

Apparently she did, because they're all still lying in an alley a few blocks from the main square, completely defenseless and also sopping wet.

"Ahh, Nami, Nami!" He whisper shouts, but the navigator doesn't even twitch. There's a crusty swathe of dried blood along her calf and the top of her foot. "Ergh, Sanji! Sa… Sanji?" the cook had seemed fine before but now Usopp isn't so sure. He's sprawled out far from cover, wide open and being continuously drenched. Sanji is usually pretty good at taking care of himself and Usopp knows that if he could he wouldn't let himself be out in the rain like he is. "Uhhh, Chopper?" Finally there is a response. Chopper's little blue nose twitches at Usopp's call and the sniper raises his voice and chants the doctor's name like a prayer. "Chopper, Chopper, Chopper, Dr. Chopper, paging Dr. Chopper! Chopper, Chopper-man, Chopper, wake up, Chopper! Chopp-"

"Whaaaaaaaaaat?" the reindeer groans and raises his head, gazing blearily at Usopp. "...Usopp? What is it?"

"What is it?" he hisses but doesn't really blame Chopper for not noticing. "We're all too injured to move and lying in the rain in the aftermath of a war!" Chopper blinks and Usopp sighs. "We're _pirates, _Chopper. Luffy has a bounty? Do you know how many people would _kill _to get their hands on-" He and Chopper stare at each other for a charged moment before Usopp throws all his strength and energy into turning himself over to see if Luffy is even still _there-_

And he is. Unbelievably, but at the same time _of course _he is. He's leant against the wall of the building they're all partially settled beneath, bent unnaturally near the shoulders because he has slid downward. Zoro is over there too, his chest a matted mixture of torn flesh and fabric and Usopp finds himself glad he didn't call for the swordsman. He probably would've woken up and killed himself trying to move.

"Alright, we're all here, Luffy's over here, we're good."

"Ahh…" Chopper sighs in relief. Then, "You scared me Usopp!"

"I scared myself too! What're we gonna do?"

"Umm, uhh…" Chopper trails off and the both lie in place for a moment, staring up at the sky and the edge of the roof respectively. "...I guess we gotta get up."

"I don't know about _you, _Chopper, but I can hardly move. Walking isn't an option over here."

"Well, if someone helped load him on I think I can carry Luffy. He's pretty light and the rain cooled me off a lot so walk point won't be as bad… Zoro's still there right?"

"Yeah. Bloody mess though."

"I know, I can smell him from over here- and that's with the rain interfering! Do you think I should try to treat him here…?"

"Ahahaa… no." Usopp admits. "Zoro is… sturdy. He pulls these ridiculous stunts and gets into trouble but he's always okay.. If you start trying to take care of him he might wake up and try to carry people somewhere."

"For real?!"

"You saw him with Nami over his shoulders before, right?"

"Urgh, is he always like that?"

"…Yeah, pretty much."

They lie in silence for a moment and Usopp releases a long sigh.

"This isn't going to be easy."

* * *

"-ji, Sanji! Sanji, Chef Sanji! Mr. Prince…? Sanji, Sanji, Sanji! Alright on the count of three- ich, ni SANji!"

"Oh, that one was cool! Usopp!"

"Haha, you think?"

"No," Sanji groans and feels around for something steady to push his weight against so he can sit up. "I don't think so at all. What're you calling me for."

"Sanji!" Chopper breaks in, relieved. "I'm so glad you're alright. I was getting worried because I hadn't seen anything too troubling when I looked you over before so it was quite likely something internal which I really should have checked for so I'm sorry about that but-"

"Don't worry about it, Chopper." He finally figures out that nothing is gonna seem steady because he's lightheaded with exhaustion and just braces himself against the ground as it jiggles merrily. Or maybe that's his arms… "Why did you wake me up?"

"No one came to get us." Usopp explains and Sanji can hear the blame coming. "You told Vivi we'd meet her at the castle and now we've got to figure out how to get there with at least two crewmates who can't walk and definitely all of us who _shouldn't _walk because she didn't send anyone to pick us up!"

Sanji blinks at that and after registering that there's rain coming down on his head starts crawling toward the voices, hoping that they have shelter. "You can't blame Vivi-chan for believing her Prince when he says he's strong enough to _walk _somewhere!"

"I'm _not _blaming Vivi, I'm blaming _you _for telling her that in the first place!"

"Yeah!" Chopper butts in, sounding affronted. "We might be indoors right now if you hadn't said that! Everyone getting bandaged by the castle staff, resting, like you all should be!" He sniffs lightly and mumbles to himself "It's my first time treating everyone and I'm not even well enough to do it myself…"

"Ah, sorry, guys." And he is, he never meant to make Chopper feel that way nor to put any of them in danger. He crawls a few paces more and suddenly he can see them and the rain lays off in its relentless pounding (through his headache doesn't). "I just didn't want her to have to worry…"

"And that's fine- except now _we _have to worry about it!"

And Sanji can admit, they don't look good. Chopper is in brain point lying beside Usopp, and he looks like he _may _have stumbled over there after getting up. Sanji himself crawled but Usopp certainly hasn't moved anything major since they last set him down. Luffy is still unconscious behind them, Zoro is snoozing like a lazy jerk beside him and Nami-

"Can you carry Nami-san, Chopper?"

"Nami is probably one of the only ones who _doesn't _need carrying!" Usopp argues immediately.

"She has a leg injury!" Sanji protests, "You can't expect her to walk on that foot?"

"I expect her to _limp _on that foot with a human crutch." Usopp returns and Chopper whimpers at the idea but nods in agreement. "If you can walk semi properly then I think you can support Nami and I. Nami can do it on one leg, I'm sure. And I… If you catch me when I start falling I might make it back to the castle. Chopper is gonna carry Luffy."

"Alright…" Sanji crawls a little further, finds a wall, and starts levering himself up. "Let's get going."

"What about Zoro?" Chopper asks incredulously and Sanji shrugs.

"That ape can take care of himself."

"WHAT? NO."

"There's no way any of us can carry him, and I don't really _want _him to walk anymore…" Usopp shudders but stares up at Sanji pitifully while the doctor looks between them like they're talking about murdering the mosshead or something. "I think we might have to leave him and send soldiers back to pick him up."

"WE CAN'T DO THAT!" Chopper shrieks.

"Why not?" Sanji tests his balance and wobbles but with a counterweight on both sides he'll probably make it… "He doesn't have a bounty so no one will take him. He's not going anywhere like that." ("I wouldn't bet on it," Usopp mutters) "And he wouldn't want to hold us all back anyway. As it is none of us get medical attention and if something isn't done it'll stay that way until Vivi-chan is done with her princessly duties and notices that we aren't around."

"And _that _could take all night." Comes a tired voice and Sanji almost falls over in joy because-

"Nami-swan! You're alright!"

* * *

"Relatively speaking," she groans and sits up, somehow, holding her head as it pounds. "What are we all yelling about?"

"How to get to the castle." Usopp fills her in. "Vivi forgot to send someone to pick up our unconscious butts."

"Shut up," she smacks him lightly and ignores his whimper of pain. "I meant Zoro, why're we talking about Zoro?"

"Cause we figured out how to get everyone else to the castle- if you can limp, anyway- but Zoro can't, er, shouldn't walk like that and none of us can carry him so we're thinking we're gonna have to make two trips."

"But I don't think we should leave him!" Chopper pipes up. "What if something happens?"

"What are we supposed to do about it if something does?" Sanji argues and Nami nods in understanding.

"I have to agree with Sanji here," ("Ah, thank you, I'm so honored, mellorine!") "The musclehead will be fine out in the rain for another hour… but I don't like the idea of leaving him alone either."

"I'm not staying to watch over that houseplant." Sanji denies instantly.

"Chopper's gonna carry Luffy and Sanji is supposed to support both of us." Usopp starts listing. "Who can stay behind? I won't do much good and you-"

"Can at least hop around on one leg."

"... come again?"

Nami rolls her eyes.

"I _said _, Usopp that _I _, unlike _you, _have some mobility remaining. I can limp, you're right, and I have more medical experience than you and therefore I can actually do something if circumstances change - be it a fight or a medical situation. Not much." she shrugs. "But a little."

"... that actually makes a lot of sense."

"Thank you."

"But Nami- San…"

"Hush, Sanji. You're in the best shape so when you get to the castle you can lead the guards back here. Besides," and she smiles cheekily even though none of them can see it from the way she's leaning. "That way I get carried~"

There's a collective sigh and Usopp mutters to himself.

"...of course."

* * *

Shifting into walk point is the hard part. Once he's there he doesn't actually have many problems with standing up. Animal resilience, he guesses, coupled with zoan healing. Sanji and Nami work together to get Luffy secured on his back. Their captain is lighter than he remembers and limp in their hands, like a cooked noodle. He mumbles at them a little and whines when they lay him in his stomach- and then when they set him on his back. Eventually Nami rips off his shirt to find what the problem is - only for them all to be faced with a torso caked in dirty bandages and one specific spot with blood seeping through in the front and the back.

Nami folds the shirt up and sets it between the bloody spot and Chopper to function as some semblance of padding.

Luffy's arms dangle down by his hooves, Sanji places his hand on his neck for support and Usopp leans all his weight over to them because his own body can't handle it right. Together they're a shambling train of injuries and aches and pains but at least they're _moving._

Zoro and Nami, not so much.

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Chopper asks again, just before they set out for the castle. Nami winks at him like 'yeah, totally, we're awesome and we'll be A-okay until Sanji comes to pick us up!' and then says "Dare I say we can't be much worse off. We'll get back to you in about the same shape we are now."

Oh. Alright.

"I'll be back soon my dear." Sanji promises over his shoulder as they start moving, all three with hesitant, wobbling, misplaced steps. "If anything happens make that mosshead take care of you!"

"Good luck, Nami!" Usopp adds and she waves weakly as they disappear around the corner, the castle's walls and golden domes visible over the rooftops.

"Good luck to you too," She says quietly but Chopper doesn't mention it.

* * *

Nami's talking to him as he comes around, drawn from sleep by the insistent buzz in his mostly empty veins that he should probably do something to fix that.

"-thinking about it since Vivi mentioned it that first time and I still don't quite understand the mechanics of it but it's glaringly obvious that Dance Powder can't just make water out of nothing. It had to have been taking water from somewhere." She scoffs and shakes her head at the sky. Zoro notes that her injured leg is extended in front of her while the other is hugged to her chest, orange fringe dripping with water and sand sticking to every part of her. "Should've been banned before it was invented, honestly." She holds a hand out and catches some water dripping off the roof awning. "I must admit, the size of these raindrops are impressive. They've had a whole lot of moisture stewing just on the horizon for who knows how long. Judging by the south-easterly wind, that's that way, by the way, I know you can't tell your directions, Zor-ahh! Zoro!"

He winces subtly at her shriek and grits out a grin, biting back burning questions because she'll take care of explanations without his asking.

"Do you aways ovex analysse the weater when you're an'chous?" He closes his eyes at the intensity of his slur, willing mobility back into his lips.

"No," She sticks out her tongue but there's not even a spark of heat to her tone. "Sometimes I just hit idiots who cause my anxiety over the head but I figured you'd appreciate the alternative this time. Not that you won't have to pay for my benevolence later~"

"'S not benemol-whate'er if I ha'e to _pay. _" He grumbles for the sake of grumbling and she laughs, a bright sound compared to her strained, light-toned musings of before.

They sit in silence for another moment, rain drenching everything around but the two of them held in a pocket of dry. No native in the country could be inside right now, they would all be out, relishing in the sight of places bone-dry for years suddenly drenched and dripping rivulets down into the sand.

"'S Luffy?" He asks finally. Nami seems to have forgotten he was awake and startles before nodding in understanding.

"He's with Chopper; Sanji and Usopp are trying to get them to the castle."

"And you?"

"Wasn't about to leave you alone in the rain." She replies simply.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

Zoro shuts his eyes and warns his nerves to chill out because with Nami here the curly cook is guaranteed to be back to get them very soon. Then Chopper or some palace doctor can feed him electrolytes till his body has enough blood that maybe he can safely lose a little more next time. That'd be helpful, if he could just have a backup reservoir or something…

"You didn't really have to carry me before."

He opens his eyes.

"I mean, I could've kept walking. If you supported me or something, I was just…"

"'S fine." He excuses. "Can you walk now?"

"Sort of. But you-"

"Wouldn't be able to now with or witout carr'ing you. At leas one o' us can sti' get somewhere."

She blinks at him before shutting her eyes and shaking her head with a soft laugh.

"Thanks, but we won't be needing me to walk anywhere I don't think. By my estimate it takes fifteen minutes, running, to get to the castle from here, they left forty-five minutes ago, we'll have an escort any minute now. Luffy, Usopp and Chopper have probably been dry for almost twenty minutes."

He shuts his eyes again, relishing the relief at the idea. They're all gonna be okay, the war's over, their Alabastan adventure, so long as they all come out alive, can be listed among their successes.

Zoro is exhausted, dizzy, dehydrated, sore almost everywhere, stinging everywhere else, and numb in a good few places in between. The only thing he can feel when there's a heavy tromp of soldier's boots rounding a corner and the cook's irritating croon of "Nami-swaaan!" is a flood of all-encompassing relief.

* * *

**A/N: Please let me know what you think! I love to chat : )**


	9. Putting it All Together

**AN: ****Ack, sorry for the delay, there's been a lot going on. I hope you are all safe and healthy out there. Enjoy the chap : D**

* * *

**Putting it all Together**

* * *

Luffy lies flat on the bed with his arms tucked behind his head as Chopper cuts through the bandages wrapped tightly around his torso. The position kind of pulls at the wound but he likes the feeling of fresh air on it after so long being bound up. Even though it kind of stings.

"Luffy, put your arms down." Chopper orders and with a pout the rubber man pulls them down to his sides. The bandages _scritch scratch _against one another and stick to his skin in some places where the blood dried and hardened. He winces as Chopper tugs some loops free that remain stubbornly caught even after being rubbed at with a damp washcloth.

One thing Luffy has got to say for having a doctor on board- it's gotten a lot easier to go through bandage changes. Nami's great and all, they all take such good care of him (too good, honestly) but Chopper _really_ knows what he's doing and it shows when, in moments like this, all Luffy has to do is lie still and let him work.

"...Are you going to tell me what happened?"

"Huh?" Luffy pulls his gaze away from the ceiling and tilts his head toward where Chopper's bent over his torso, working diligently. It's getting easier to stay still and not pay attention as the heat of the day edges off into the cool desert night air. He's heavy and melty in the satisfaction of a big meal for dinner. Sanji didn't even have to make all of it which was a nice break for him.

"I asked you to please tell me what gave you this wound." Chopper repeats and Luffy hums in acknowledgment.

He'd thought it'd be pretty obvious but maybe not.

"Crocodile did it."

"Okay, but a little more context, Luffy." Chopper sighs. "It helps me treat things properly if I know the nature of the injury." The diminutive doctor explains. "I don't want to have missed anything. What kind of weapon was used, when did it happen, how was it treated? That sort of thing."

"Oh." Usopp and Nami walk in then, laden with books from the library. Nami had insisted that the sniper check out a section devoted to ship repair and Usopp looks ecstatic with arms full of presumably valuable finds. "The first fight, when I let Crocodile grab me off the crab. He fought me for a couple minutes, then got tired of me and stabbed me with his hook."

Chopper's hooves still and the chatter from the pair goes silent. Everyone stares at him like he just told them he's decided to become a marine.

That thought alone makes him burst into laughter and the life is back in the room, if a little bit forced from what it was. Chopper freaks and tells him he can't shake like this with his bandages undone and Nami shakes her head at him like she always does, a fond smile hidden as she turns away.

"What then, Luffy." Chopper asks again when things have calmed down. It feels good, the way the little doctor washes his chest down with a washcloth. It'd all been tightly restrained for what felt like _forever_ and the feeling of clean makes him want to _stretch _out and _breathe _and - "Luffy, hold still!"

Ah right. "So then he threw me in quicksand, 'coz he thought I was gonna die anyway- but I didn't!" ("Obviously," Usopp stutters somewhere nearby, going for prideful but coming out anxious). "It took me a couple o' hours and I think I slept for a little bit because when I came out it was night, like, dark night, and I don't think I was climbing out for _that _long, but anyway I got out but the sand tried to suck me back in! That lady with the turtle, Miss Sundae, right? She pulled me out and asked me about my name. I dunno, I think I was dreaming." he shrugged and Chopper shoots him a glare. Right. Staying still. "Ah… so that falcon guy showed up, Miss Sundae beat him up earlier but he fed me and took me to a doctor." He snickered. "They kind of freaked out about me, but they fixed it up and I got some meat and then falcon flew me across the desert to catch up to you guys!"

He nods with finality because that's how he got the wound they're talking about so there isn't anything else to say and Nami looks a little tired from the story anyway. She does that sometimes but he was hoping she'd stop now that Chopper was doing his bandages instead of her.

"Is that it?" Chopper probed, "It looks like it was irritated further than just a typical fight…"

At that point Sanji strode in with Zoro by the ear, the latter snapping at him irritably.

"Chopper, I found this one training again out in the courtyard, where should I-"

"Oh, that might be because of how I figured out how to hurt Crocodile." Luffy starts, Sanji and Zoro might even like to hear this! Logia devil fruits are gonna be all over the place anyway, he's sure. "See when he stabbed me he went through that barrel of water from the old man in Yuba, got his arm all wet, and then when I grabbed him I could hold him! Before that he just burst into sand whenever I tried anything."

"Uh, just put him in the other bed, Sanji. I'll check his stitches in a second."

"What's going on here, Nami-san?"

"Ah… Luffy's telling Chopper how he got his stab wound."

"So I decided that I had to have water next time, cause water made him solid and stuff." He explains, idly twisting his feet as he stares at the ceiling. Somewhere in there Chopper starts working with the stitches again and swashes alcohol all over the wound. He bites his lip and Zoro swears for gin as Sanji wrestles him down into one of the cots.

"But to make sure he couldn't take it away I swallowed it all. It might've opened the hole a little more when water started leaking out."

"_Of your _stomach?" Usopp shrieks, incredulous, and Chopper whimpers and pulls away from the wound, like he's scared to touch it.

"Yeah. I guess. But it stopped and I fought him for a little while but even with all the water I couldn't do it right." Luffy clenches his fists and loosens them just as quickly but Chopper doesn't seem to notice. "He used his sand powers to dry out the whole battlefield- me too! But I missed this one time when I was squirting and I guess after he left it all fell back in top of me." He shrugs and then grins at Chopper's panicked demands for cooperation. "Lucky, huh?"

"Yeah. Very lucky." Nami mutters.

"O-Okay," Chopper stutters and he's almost done now, Luffy can tell. "I guess that a leak through the abdominal wall would indeed aggravate the wound. I've never actually read about something like that happening without obvious repercussions…"

"This is only your first adventure with us, Chopper, but you'll learn quick." Nami shook her head as she set her books on her bedside table. "Luffy is a medical phenomenon- no matter _what _we do."

"Hey, wait-" Usopp cut in and ignored the glare Nami shot him. "If that water, uh, fell back on you? Then why did we have to be there the first night with, like, three gallons of water?"

"Huh?"

"You kept waking up the first night," Sanji explained. "Dehydrated as banana chips. We took shifts with the water."

"Oh. Thanks!"

"There probably wasn't enough water there to completely replenish him." Chopper helped Luffy sit up and motioned for him to raise his arms above his head. "Especially with the poison and the ambient temperature he'd need even more water than usual." He began wrapping Luffy's torso up with a new roll of bandages, obscuring the stitch work he'd just redone with a few layers of white cloth.

"Oh- but I wasn't poisoned yet?"

"Wha- then _when did you get poisoned?_" Nami snapped. "How many times did you have to fight him?"

"Three!" Luffy gave a resolute nod. "Slippery croc didn't want to stand still and let me beat him up! He kept running while I was down."

"Good thing he did." Zoro muttered but Luffy plowed on.

"After the water fell on me and I wasn't so thirsty anymore I chased him! Some marines told me where he went and I found it- but had to take a nap- but then I went in and found him, and the King and Miss Sundae! They were all talking about this big rock and the tomb was falling apart! Took too long." He grunted as Chopper pulled the bandages tight and tied them off.

"And you got poisoned there." Usopp figured out, to which Luffy nodded. "That'd still be bad after everything that happened. Where'd you get the antidote from?"

"The antidote?" Luffy straightened his arms over his head as Chopper switched to heavy point so that he was tall enough to slide the castle supplied robe over his patient's head.

"Yeah, how'd you get rid of the poison if not with the antidote?" Usopp asked with incredulity.

"I didn't get rid of the poison." Luffy poked his head out of the top of the robe and wrestled his arms out through the long sleeves. "There wasn't time to. Croc was trying to pull the whole cave down on top of us so I had to fix that first."

"How could you do that first?" Nami cut in. "Poison, Luffy. You could've died without the antidote? Try to pay better attention to things like this. Next time you get hurt like that, poisoned, I mean, or some injury that's time related, like, bleeding out or something? Next time try to prioritize getting that fixed before you go around beating people up. Things like that will beat you before the fight's over anyway."

"Poison will sap your strength away." Sanji added in.

"That's why I had to hurry. I was slowing down- but I wasn't gonna stop!" He pumped his fist to show his determination. "Croc thought he could outlast me, the whole fight, every one of them, he was just trying to knock me down. If he did it one more time I wouldn't have gotten back up in time. All the rocks would've caved in and it'd have took me _ages_ to get out of that. Too late to save Vivi's country! I'd rather fight with poison and win than stop to get rid of the poison and lose it for her." He cast a stern gaze over all of them to make sure they were all listening to this part (as though he hadn't held the entirety of each's attention from the moment they walked into the room). "We said we'd save her country, I said she should risk more than herself! Saving her treasure is more important than saving myself so I was prorietizing things right by beating up the sand croc!"

There was a beat of silence. All of them trying to swallow that. Because their captain had pretty much just said that he'd meant what he said about risking more than one life. He'd been absolutely certain of his every action, completely okay with dying right here, just a few islands into the grand line, if that's what it took to save Alabasta for Vivi.

Even though none of them had doubted it, it came as a stern reminder to each of them- just in case they had forgotten.

"In any case, it's pronounced 'prioritizing', Luffy, you're saying it wrong." Nami said and Zoro snorted.

"Does it matter, witch?"

Luffy laughed at them both and Usopp lurched off his perch on the edge of his cot, spreading his arms wide and pronouncing that Luffy reminded him of a brave knight he had heard about when he was young, who would always complete his quests.

"No matter the cost, he fought his way to the end! Knowing that riches and glory awaited."

"I don't want any of that stuff." Luffy put in as he laid back down, tucking his hands behind his head and yawning. "Ahhh just wanna go back to the Merry now."

Usopp changed the tale immediately.

"Knowing that the end of the hard road on which he journeyed there awaited his castle with his friends, waiting loyally to prepare him for his next adventure!"

Luffy fondled that thought for a spare moment as Chopper packed away his supplies and someone blew out the lamp and someone else hissed at Usopp to be quiet. They'd been proving it the entire journey thus far, even if this had been the first time really in practice. He could have taken care of himself before but now, when he hadn't been able to, his crew had watched over him. No matter what he risked, no matter what he spent in a fight, they were always ready to pick up the pieces at the end and put him back together.

* * *

**AN: ****Aaaaannnnnd we're done with Alabasta! On to Skypeia : ) Let me know what you think~**


	10. All Downhill from Here

**A/N: I was a little more lenient on this one with the whole more accurate treatment thing because molten metal burns are just no joke. It's not really the kind of thing that can get slotted accurately into the story, as far as I can tell. The comfort is still on a good level imo. My sincere thanks to guest reviewers since I can't answer them through PM! Glad to hear people are entertained.**

* * *

**All Downhill from Here**

* * *

The party's been going for maybe an hour when Chopper finally finds out what happened to Luffy during his fight with Enel. He's changing Wyper's bandages and the little Shandian girl, Aisa, stops in to check on him, mentioning in passing, "How's your captain's arm?"

And it all goes downhill from there.

The party parts for him as Chopper, in heavy point, marches toward the bonfire, blue doctor bag held tightly in one clenched fist. Luffy is taking a break from the dancing, instead. He's seated himself beside the feasting table and with one arm is shoveling food into his mouth, the other is looped loosely (like an arm thrown over the shoulders of a supporting friend) around one of the green melon fruits, a straw poking out of the top.

Chopper can count on one hand (when he has hands) the number of times he's seen Luffy only eat with one arm.

As he approaches Luffy looks up at him and his smile is particularly gleeful with the firelight dancing on his cheeks, it melts away as Chopper grabs his shoulder and twists it away from his side, forcing the melon out of his grasp and extending his forearm.

The skin is red and blistered, shiny smooth in some places, cracked in others.

"You're burned," Chopper hisses and Luffy shrugs, turning his head away. "You were burned by molten. Metal. And you didn't tell me?"

"You were busy," he offers, meek and a little sullen, and Chopper wants so bad to slap him but at this point he's scared to do anything potentially harmful. Luffy may be rubber and therefore hard to injure, but what hurts him often hits him hard. Hard enough that Chopper has to be careful with how he handles the man in the aftermath.

"It doesn't matter if I'm busy, I'm your doctor before I'm any of theirs, I need to at least know about these things." he guides Luffy out of the chair and towards the edge of the party, the man complies with a grumble, dragging his feet. "Is there anything else I should know about? You didn't get electrocuted right?" Luffy shakes his head and Chopper almost faints with relief as he forces him to sit down at the base of a tree and hold his arm out for Chopper to see.

"Ah, I did get electrocuted, but it didn't matter cause I'm rubber. I almost got stabbed…" he gestures to his stomach and Chopper's heart seizes up as he unbuttons the vest to show him. He sighs in relief when he sees it is only a shallow gash.

The burn is still the main concern, clearly, and Chopper shrinks down to brain point so he can work with a gentler touch. Luffy winces anyway as Chopper pours water onto a washcloth and dabs it up and down his arm, and Chopper winces as the cloth gets caught on raised and rough patches of skin.

It's a deep burn, and it covers his entire forearm, Chopper has no idea how Luffy made it past him, or did anything during the party, moving must be agony…

"Are you gonna bandage it?" Luffy asks and Chopper starts. He'd already spread a heavy coating of burn salve over the wound but he'd gotten lost in his own thoughts before he'd gotten the bandage on. Luffy was getting impatient.

"Yeah, sorry." He wraps the white cloth around the arm in tight circles and he knows it hurts and it chafes but he can't do a thing.

Frankly, Luffy is beyond lucky that this is as bad as it is. It could have been so much worse.

His captain bounces to his feet and with a slightly pained smile he's off again towards the buffet table, the fresh white limb gleaming clean in the firelight.

Chopper is left to wonder if this is how his job is going to be every time, if it's not so much healing as preventing further damage.

Because if some salve and a bandage is all he can do, he really has no idea how to keep up with the kind of pain Luffy endures.

* * *

Navarone comes and the Straw Hats split apart, each have the same goal but completely different ideas as to how to accomplish it. Chopper ends up in the med bay and he may or may not take the opportunity to stock up on a number of rarer compounds and supplies, in particular, a certain salve known for healing and soothing burns. It's a common ailment among seafaring people, more marines than anyone else. Too close to cannon fire? Devil fruit fight? Even just the grand line climate could cause some vicious burns. Smooth and shiny scars speckled marines more often than actual sword marks, perhaps partially because most pirates who carried swords didn't leave marks, they left mortal wounds…

Point is that he stocked up on a deep healing coolant, meant to salvage flesh and prevent scarring. It'd been nearly a week since Luffy had first acquired the burns from Eneru but… but he was their doctor, and if there was something he could try then he'd better do it!

The second they secure their escape, as everyone is dispersing from the deck and Nami is blackmailing Zoro and Sanji into watching their course for the night, Chopper grabs Luffy's unbandaged wrist and tugs him off course, away from the men's sleeping quarters and instead towards his little makeshift infirmary in the kitchen.

"...Whatizzit Chobber…" Luffy mumbles at him when he realizes they aren't going to bed. "Is somethin wroawnnn?" he trails off into a yawn.

"No, I… I think I might be able to make something better." Chopper replies and guides his half asleep captain to sit on the table. "I'm going to undo your bandages, alright?"

"But you said not to do that?"

" You can't do that, but I can." Chopper corrects and snips through the top layer of wrappings down at the wrist, finding a loose end and beginning to unravel the carefully wound cloth. He'd changed them once more before leaving Skypeia but after Navarone it's a good idea to check that the burns weren't aggravated by all the chaos. The salve is a bonus. Beneath the bandages the arm is a gruesome mix between pasty pale and lobster red. Splotches of skin have peeled away to allow new skin to grow and in other places the old skin clings like shriveled snake scales. Luffy blinks down at it impassively, like he can't be bothered by his arm looking like an alien appendage.

Chopper grits his teeth and begins to clean away the dead patches, the scratching of the washcloth against charred skin still sets his nerves on edge but it's easier now because Luffy flinches less, tired and uncomprehending, and also because some of the skin comes away and beneath it Chopper can find new, mostly healthy cells ready to surface.

When he's done he can't deny that he's amazed at the shape his captain is in. Molten metal burns are no joke, Luffy could've lost the limb entirely, but something tells him it is still a good thing that he has the salve.

Burns are one of the few things that can hurt him, he recites mentally as he smoothes green paste over the skin, I'm not entirely sure why these burns, which should be so horrible, are mostly superficial but that doesn't mean there won't be others that aren't.

Luffy nods off entirely as he finishes rewrapping his arm and Chopper transforms into heavy point to carry the man back to his bunk. Usopp gives him a weird look as he deposits the rubber boy in his hammock, hastily arranging his bandaged arm over his stomach so it isn't crushed beneath him in the night.

"That's the third time you've changed the bandages in, like, four days, what happened?" he whispers and Chopper shoots him an incredulous look.

"The gold on his arm, Eneru melted it on there. " Usopp goes white in the dark of the cabin. "He'll be alright, really!" He assures as Usopp opens his mouth to argue. "He's got amazing recuperative abilities… but I'm keeping a close eye on it, just in case."

"Molten metal…" Usopp stares at their sleeping leader for a swift moment before shaking his head with a bemused frown, turning over and pulling the blankets up to his shoulders. "I don't know how he survives this stuff."

Chopper doesn't either.

In this case, it's probably something ridiculous, like his arm actually melted rather than being burned but reformed in the right shape, or maybe the gold was only molten for a split second and the heat didn't have time to penetrate. Regardless of this particular time though, Chopper's mind races forward, predicting what other injuries he'll be expected to care for in the future. Chopper had the means to battle the merciful results of this burn, and now, with a little more preparation, hopefully he'll be able to combat any more that follow.

* * *

**A/N: Chapter title feels ominous but I go way less hard in the upcoming bits. Canon provides enough angst for me in a lot of ways so I didn't have to stretch it out on my own! This one absolutely needed addressing though. Also, pleased to name drop Navarone because G-8 is just the best, I am so fond, good filler arc!**

**Let me know what you think ; ) Stay safe and healthy!**


	11. But No One's Laughing

**A/N: This one almost got cut, it's not really necessary after all, but I'm really happy with how it's shaped up. Robin is a fun pov to work with! I hope you all enjoy it to.**

**To the guest who asked about the next major injury in the series, yeah! It's a little strange but even though the base plot is about wound treatment, it's always really been about the Straw Hats caring for Luffy. I assume you're talking about Aokiji, and the next chapter is actually one of the first ones I imagined and outlined _because_ I loved how the moment went and I wanted to dwell in it more. It's a little shorter than usual, but I think you'll find that canon covering the subject better than usual doesn't mean the Straw Hats are done looking out for their captain : )**

* * *

**But No One's Laughing**

* * *

In a lot of ways, it feels like a joke.

Foxy is the kind of man that their captain eats for breakfast, (not literally, though she wouldn't put it past him were he particularly hungry) and comes across more as a parody of an enemy than a real one. Robin watched her captain coat his fists in his own blood so that he might tear down a warlord, and charge into a storm, weighed down and wounded, to (ostensibly) dethrone a god. Truly he wanted to help a friend, and later to ring a bell, but she doesn't think the distinction matters much since both goals were accomplished.

In the face of that, Foxy is nothing. In the face of that, Robin has nothing to fear.

And yet she holds Chopper close in her lap, tries not to lurch into offense on her captain's behalf, and watches Luffy begin to lose.

There's a barrage of punches, a flurry of explosions, and a volley of arrows- one thing after another that Luffy is struggling to manage, because being resilient doesn't mean it doesn't _hurt_. It hurts watching too, and a glance down at the rest of the crew, settled lower in the stands, shows that they aren't handling it well either.

A pyrrhic victory is not the sort of trophy she likes her captain to hold. He could crush this enemy captain as easily as he crushes steel between his teeth and yet he is thrown across the deck, from port to starboard and fore to aft, and Robin feels like watching this is a new kind of punishment that the world has decided to try against her. She hadn't realized how much she'd started to care. Usually, somehow, Luffy runs off on his own, corners his chosen enemy into the fight, and either collapses where they can find him or crawls back so they can skip worrying where he is and go straight to worrying about his health. At the end of the day Luffy will come back to them, bruised and bleeding and drained, but so rarely do they watch him fall into that state. They only deal with the aftermath.

Now they watch in slow motion.

Chopper whimpers by her side as another spiked punch thuds into his captain's face and then yells again as Luffy, once free of Foxy's powers, darts below deck to follow the trickster clown impersonating an enemy.

Robin debates the merits of tuning into the fight with her powers, maybe even discretely ending it herself since Luffy is having trouble, but eventually decides against it. She has no pirate pride to speak of, but her captain does, and she refuses to waste his efforts. If he's going to throw himself onto swords for them they'll just have to be extremely diligent about treating his stab wounds.

* * *

"Do you _like_ getting burned? Is that what this is?"

Luffy wheezes out a laugh and tries to lay still as Chopper seethes, slopping poultice onto the new injuries.

"I don't!" He insists even as Nami scolds him and Usopp reaches out from where he kneels to touch his less injured shoulder. "I'm not _trying_ to get hurt at all! Just…" he closes his eyes as Chopper prods at a particularly deep gouge from Foxy's gloves. "Just that getting hurt is worth it."

"That is the wrong attitude." Nami hisses. "We care about you Luffy- don't you get it? It hurts _us_ to see _you_ hurting. This isn't worth anything- except a whole lot of medical supplies!"

"Finishing a fight is one thing, letting a fight nearly finish you is another." Zoro says. He doesn't usually have much to say to these things, Robin has noticed, but he's even less pleased about these circumstances than they all usually are. "Just cause you can deal with the consequences doesn't mean you should. Start blocking things Luffy, or dodging. Our enemies are hitting harder the further along we go."

"Yeah, if Foxy can do this to you imagine what a real combatant could do!" Usopp yelps and starts chattering about the stories he's heard.

Robin glances behind them at the milling crew of the Sexy Foxy. Their own captain couldn't possibly be supported by all five hundred something members of their crew, not like Luffy can be cradled in Nami's lap, touched tenderly by Chopper's purposeful hooves, and guarded by Zoro and Sanji. As soon as the fight was officially over (Foxy surely sunk and Luffy the undeniable winner) he'd dropped to his knees and Sanji had dove into the water to climb aboard and collect him.

None of them had wanted to wait long enough to go back to the ship and so they'd set him down in the softest patch of grass they could find and made a shelter with their bodies to keep the other crew from interfering in any way. Luffy hadn't lasted long after they'd gotten ahold of him. Supported by Sanji as he was led over and listing onto Usopp's shoulder as they helped him sit down. Robin could see the fight go out of him, each muscle relaxing and his laughter shaking loose of his chest when Nami leant in to scold him.

And usually, by the time they can hold him, the battle fire in his eyes is well gone, but here she could watch it fade like someone turning down the fire of an oil lamp. Coaxed from something ravenous and burning back into something that was at its core a source of light.

The others do not dim so quickly. There's a hard edge in Sanji's eyes and a sharpness to Usopp's movements. Zoro stands with more obvious tension than the snoozing swordsman habitually displays.

Robin does not know their past so well, but she imagines that unlike herself most of them are not so privy to the lengths their captain will go. Where she watched three out of three battles against a warlord she's always gathered that they're used to seeing Luffy win. And not just eventually. She's thought before that Luffy needed to do better than learn from his mistakes. It's just that at the time that thought was an idle observation of a then doomed endeavor. Now it rises behind her breastbone like a deep breath that she can't release; it insists on having her attention.

"You can't keep doing this to yourself Cap'n." Sanji sighs and Luffy chuckles softly again, hiding a wince as Chopper pulls some sort of debris from a cut. "I'm serious Luffy." The cook frowns. "It's worked so far but it won't last. Being able to take a punch is important but that's not what's gonna win the fights."

"But Sanjiii," Robin spawns an arm and braces her palm against his shoulder when he goes to sit up. He scowls at her but it melts into a smile in seconds. Despite what he went through to get here he's in a good mood. "It's the only thing I _can_ do." He sobers, relaxing back against the grass. "You're all way smarter than I am and I'd be nowhere without you! But this is what I can do." His smile springs back, dauntless. "I'm lucky."

"That's one way to put it." Nami mutters and casts an acid glare over her shoulder at a few Foxy pirates that have wandered a bit too close. They scowl back and melt into the crowd again. "Mostly you're just too stupid to kill. Don't know that you're supposed to be dead."

"I can't die until I'm the pirate king!" He riles instantly. "Of course I'm not supposed to be dead."

"What Miss Navigator means, Captain, is that you are capable of remaining conscious and performing extreme physical activity under significantly more duress than the typical human being." Robin explains. "A statement with which I agree." Luffy laughs, and while it's reserved compared to some of his usual guffaws there's no sadness or hesitation to it. It's sincere. All of Luffy is sincere.

It makes sense. Her whole life Robin has received falsehoods. Lies about her being wanted. Lies about her being safe. People tried to trick her into believing things that weren't true. They set up elaborate schemes that seemed built from paper maché with how easily they fell to pieces. People like Foxy have created countless mazes for her to run, in hopes of trapping her at a dead end. And she's dealt back everything she's been served. A better lie and a trickier maze. She catches people in their own traps.

There are no traps on the Merry except the ones Luffy doesn't even know that he's set. No tricks except the catch for following him which seems at first so free of attachments.

For once she doesn't want to lie.

"You should be more careful, Captain." She cautions. Luffy blinks his eyes back open from where he'd been drifting into sleep. "We'd all hate to see you bleeding out any more than is strictly necessary."

"_Robin_!" Usopp and Nami hiss while Chopper appears to suffer a minor heart attack. But Luffy smiles at her and she knows that he knows.

Perhaps not that she hasn't been able to say that to anyone in over twenty years, but at least that she means it.

* * *

**A/N: Am I a little more off-topic from Luffy than usual? Perhaps. But Robin has thoughts and I am here to write them out and I'm rather pleased, ngl. Hopefully it meets your tastes as well. Let me know what you thought!**


	12. Hot Chocolate (chilled for 10 minutes)

**AN: A little late on this, other projects were taking my attention, sorry! This one's short and the next one ties into it pretty closely so I'm gonna put that one up at the end of the week if things go according to plan. Enjoy!**

* * *

**Hot Chocolate (Chilled for ten minutes)**

* * *

Sanji gives the drink a final stir and taps the spoon against the rim of the cup, carefully laying it on the napkin. Luffy won't care at all for the presentation of the drink, but Sanji does, if only as a small extra thanks for Luffy's effort in saving Robin-chan. He picks up the tray and glides over to where Luffy is bundled up in half the blankets aboard the Going Merry and surrounded by heat dials. Usopp is chattering about how happy he is that he'd picked up so many of them even though he was more interested in the sound dials but Luffy is just chattering. His teeth sound like castanets.

"Hot chocolate Captain?" Sanji offers, extending the tray, Luffy snakes out an arm but he doesn't make it all the way, pulling his arm back inside the cocoon when the blanket slip off his elbow. Sanji rolls his eyes while nearly biting through his cigarette. "Come on." Luffy peers up at him pitifully.

"'S c-c-cold!"

"Yeah, that's why I made you _hot_ chocolate, drink up." He sets the tray down on the table and picks up the mug, easing it into Luffy's waiting fingers which peek just outside the fuzzy nest. They'd given him gloves and forced warm socks on his feet but he'd refused just about everything else. Robin-chan is being a good angel and sleeping beneath the remaining half of the blankets on board, Chopper is taking care of her, and rightly so (partly because Luffy is harder to kill then he looks and partly because Robin was frozen for longer than Luffy), but he's checked on Luffy no less than six times in the last forty five minutes. Usopp for his part, is cemented to Luffy's side, and Zoro is more alert on watch duty than Sanji has seen him in a long time.

As soon as the mug is safely transferred and Sanji lets go, it begins to shake. Tiny tidal waves splash up against the ceramic sides and Sanji is very happy he only filled it half full, exactly with this conundrum in mind. Carefully, Luffy raises his quivering hand to his mouth and manages a slurp. He nearly drops it as he starts coughing, either more or less liquid in that gulp than he bargained for, and Sanji rescues the mug while Usopp pats Luffy's back and hazards a joke.

"Th-thanks S-S-S-S-Sanj-ji," Luffy manages and Sanji has to be patient to get his whole name. "It's warm-m-m."

Luffy's body temperature is hovering around 94.8 degrees fahrenheit and even though Sanji wants to force feed his captain steaming plates of food and serve the hottest hot chocolate he's ever brewed to warm him up, Chopper has warned him, _twice_, that anything warmer than room temperature is going to feel absolutely scalding.

So, lukewarm hot chocolate it is, even if he has to serve it in half full mugs so they aren't spilled everywhere. Even if he has to brew them all like normal and then let them cool to make sure the chocolate mixes in right.

He has about ten waiting on the kitchen counter, for whenever this frozen idiot manages to finish this first cup.

* * *

**AN: Let me know what you think and thanks for reading!**


	13. Unguard

**AN: ****Surprise surprise, there's more Robin!**

**Here's the 'other half' of chapter 12/the Aokiji incident. From here we're moving to Enies Lobby which, considering it's potential, I kind of skimped on. Still, we've got stuff coming up so stay tuned!**

* * *

**Unguard**

* * *

She wakes up panicked, not from any sort of trigger in her surroundings, but simply because waking up means she has been asleep, and who knows what could have happened in that time.

When she goes to sit up moving seems more difficult than usual and memories return quickly- the man with his long horse, the Davy back fight, Aokiji, the fight, the freezing. She ceases her attempts to move, focusing on a quick catalog of her current state of health. Stiff, to say the least. Very cold, despite the number of blankets she can feel heavy against her chest. Stifled. Vulnerable.

She surveys the ceiling above her and identifies it as that of the galley of the Going Merry. She is in the galley, and so are- she counts the breaths- six other people. The whole crew then. They are all there, alive, nothing short of a miracle. It's dark and the lights are out so it's most likely night. Judging by the gentle rocking of the boat they are anchored and not on the open ocean. They haven't yet left Long Ring Island. She takes these observations automatically, logging her surroundings in an analytical fashion that she has more or less perfected over the years. With those questions answered, she redirects her attention to herself.

As is typical for patients (Which she surely is, suffering from hypothermia at least and probably frostbite and who knows what else) she's been laid on her back. This is for perfectly logical medical reasons but her skin crawls at the thought of her entire front, her chest with her heart and lungs, her abdominal cavity with the stomach, liver, kidneys- all of the important things aside from her brain, still carefully cradled within her skull, is perfectly available to any passing threat.

Immediately she tries to curl to her side, to bare her back to any threats and put up a shield around these important bits. But the blankets shift and her body shivers and in general refuses to cooperate.

She is left lying there, unable to protect herself from the innumerable threats out there, waiting to strike-

"Mnme…" There is a voice and her body goes rigid, even as she immediately recognizes who it is.

Luffy. He's asleep somewhere nearby.

Her heart beats harder with the reminder and then relief as she realizes that the likelihood of safety is far more optimistic with her captain at her side. She can't imagine their protective captain sleeping easily if any of them had been hurt badly and she's sure that even if Luffy is sleeping Zoro is more than capable of jumping to her protection should anything occur. She counts their breaths again. None sound labored but she can't imagine Aokiji releasing them unscathed. Unscathed except for his strike against her, of course, but removing her from the immediate situation is hardly a handicap to anyone. Sometimes she feels she does nothing but attract trouble. And the Straw Hats don't need any help in that department.

She tips her head to the side to see them all and finds Luffy is splayed across a mattress pad right beside her. One of his feet is near her hip and the other above her head. He's on his stomach, hands reached out towards where Usopp is sitting on the floor just a foot or two away, leaning against the table leg.

As she watches he snorts, mumbles something unintelligible, and shifts, flipping over. His stomach and chest rise rhythmically, completely unprotected as even his shirt has ridden up to reveal a swath of his midsection and the blankets he too had been wrapped in are discarded around him- shrugged off in his sleep.

For a moment she questions if he was injured like she was, frozen partially, because of the similar treatment but her thoughts derail quickly with wonder. She can't fathom how he can be comfortable like that, how he can be so unaware of his surroundings and still feel safe with his body almost _asking _for disembowelment-

She dismisses the thought at once. Monkey D. Luffy started as a means to an end, but she has grown to appreciate his judgment, his strength, and… his kindness. Such morbid ideas, once humorous to her in an ironic way that she may soon commit it herself to ensure her own safety, are now only funny in the daytime and with the full knowledge that she herself would never let such a thing happen to any one of her newest crewmates.

She is sure that there has never been and never will be a crew which she can be more a part of.

And still, the way she lies here, vulnerable, is unsettling. The only people on the ship are ones she trusts and her skin still crawls with discomfort in this position. People naturally curl into the fetal position in sleep, this is the most comfortable way to be for it fulfills a deep, human instinct- to protect the core.

And yet Luffy is bared to the world, injured, with bandages wrapped around the arm that had been frosted before Robin had even been frozen, and an involuntary shiver that seems to strike him every few minutes. Still, he lies without a worry, as he often does during the day, splayed out beside Zoro or lying across the figurehead.

He never guards himself and never seems to feel the need to.

She tunes back into her surrounding, surveying the way Sanji is pillowing his head on his arms as he sleeps in the chair at the kitchen table, Zoro is leaning against the wall the way he leans against the railing of the ship for his naps and it wouldn't surprise her if he were to wake up should she move. Nami, she realizes suddenly, is actually right beside her, sleeping by her legs so that she is unobtrusive and almost comforting in a way. Usopp with Luffy, and Chopper asleep and settled on the sniper's legs, a medical text open in his lap.

"Mnahhh…" Luffy's mumble turns sour at the end and his body tenses. She glances over and notices the goosebumps that have risen along the skin that has come free of the blankets in his movements. He whines again and Robin is contemplating the best way to assist him when Usopp starts awake. Well. Perhaps not awake, but aware.

His eyes don't open fully, but he tips to one side and throws his free hand out, searching for the blanket. Chopper makes a soft startled noise as he slides off Usopp's lap due to the motion, but while he blinks his eyes open he simply gathers himself back into a small ball and curls up under Usopp's stabilizing arm, snuggling into his chest. When the sniper's groping finally produces the blanket's edge he pulls it towards himself, catching Luffy and the mattress pad with it and tugging the whole set up closer to himself. Luffy turns towards him and the blanket settles back over his chest and arm.

The sniper falls back asleep with Luffy's face pressed into his thigh. The captain has calmed it seems, but his foot still juts off the bottom of the mattress.

It doesn't seem to be bothering him, and he's sure to nudge it back off before too long, but the need to contribute seizes her deep and high in her chest. She shifts beneath the blankets, drawing her arms up across her chest and closes her eyes. The single arm that blooms from the floorboards beside her mattress pad reaches across, snags the edge of the blanket in suddenly shaking fingers, and pulls it back into place. She dismisses it in a flurry of petals and hugs herself tight beneath the blanket.

In the dark quiet rocking of the ship, the air is warm and full of breaths. Robin is still cold, her arm coated in goosebumps that hadn't been there moments before. The shield of her arms clutched around her front is enough to quell the edge of the wriggling discomfort and vulnerability beneath her skin. Luffy mumbles again and Sanji, at the table, grunts in response. Blankets rustle down by her legs and she knows Nami has shifted. With a breath that shivers as it leaves her mouth she closes her eyes.

Somehow, she doesn't feel cold.

* * *

**AN: Let me know what you think and enjoy!**


	14. Every Mortal Wound

**AN: ****I neglect Zoro in this series so here's a Zoro focus. I hope you appreciate it because he is *not* my strong suit!**

**Also, this one's dedicated to my sister who A. stopped watching at Skypeia, B. learned _allll_ about Water 7 today, and C. got distracted while helping me format this because she wanted to read a scene I didn't go over with her. Love ya darling~ ****Enjoy this chap that focuses on ur fav!**

* * *

**Every Mortal Wound**

* * *

Exactly four-hundred-thousand beri are exchanged between Nami's hand and the clerk's at the Inn's main desk.

The extra two hundred that she accidentally left in the wad and would have paid if she'd not triple counted are clutched in her fist, held behind her back.

She takes the key to the room and offers the man a wan smile which he returns gingerly after a moment's hesitation. The guys are all waiting outside, stacks of trunks and bundled bags sitting beside them. Luffy has a huge sack looped over his shoulder and he stands, resolute, away from the rest. He takes every effort to avoid their gazes.

It hurts.

She waves the keys at them and Sanji starts hefting the load, Chopper shifts into heavy point and Zoro picks up two of her trees- one for each shoulder. The clerk at the desk gives them all wide eyed looks as they pass through the lobby, a motley group of five (too many for the room she ordered, she won't pay for that many beds) with everything they own on their back. The stairs are a challenge, the door to the room even more so, but they manage- as they always have.

Once everything is settled Sanji darts out the door with a mumbled excuse that Nami doesn't bother to catch. Chopper devolves once more into sniffles as he digs through his depleted medical supplies and takes stock. Luffy sits on one of the beds with his head down and Zoro leans against the wall by the door.

"L-Luffy," Chopper starts, pulling out a box of bandaids and a jar of burn ointment but before he can finish the thought Luffy is on his feet, striding past and out the door, Zoro just half a step behind him with a warning glance over his shoulder.

"B-But…" Chopper sniffles again and Nami's heart fumbles for a cure (to herself or to Chopper or to all of this _mess _she can't even tell). "He's, Uso- Luffy got hurt."

"He doesn't need help right away." Nami soothes. "We'd both rather he got it but you know how Luffy can be… like that."

"I know!" Chopper wails. "But I couldn't treat Usopp either and now… and now I just want to help him!"

"Chopper..." She steps forward and he meets her halfway, launching into her arms and burying his face in her chest. If Robin were here she wouldn't feel so alone but as it is all of them are being stone-faced guys and she's left as the woman in charge and Chopper who's always trying to be a man but isn't quite there yet. "We should let Zoro take care of him first. I think Luffy needs a little time off from being captain."

Chopper looks down at the items in his hooves, bandaids and burn ointment, then up at Nami blinking tears out of his eyes. Nami sighs and runs a hand through her hair.

"Here," She picks up his bag and finds a tube of antiseptic cream and then plucks the bandaids from Chopper's hooves. "I'll run these up to Zoro, maybe he can convince Luffy to disinfect at least the small things, yeah?"

She waits and when he doesn't reply she shakes the box teasingly until he snickers and nods, whispering a soft "okay."

They are four flights away from the roof and with every step Nami tries to convince herself to stay up there once she reaches it. Zoro is Zoro but maybe she could help. She was there at the start too. Maybe Luffy would really appreciate…

She reaches the door to the roof, takes a deep breath and eases it open. Luffy is hunched over himself, legs dangling over the side of the roof. Zoro stands right beside him, arms crossed, knee just brushing the boy's shoulder. There are weeping scrapes along his arms and neck, his hat is a little singed, the whole rooftop smells like rotten eggs. She can hear his breathing from here, jagged and uneven, but his shoulders don't shake. Still, his arm comes up, hand swiping across his face in a vain attempt to dispel any evidence of doubt or weakness.

Zoro shifts his weight to the other leg, bending his knee just an inch or two more, and it tips the brim of luffy's hat forward over his eyes.

Nami leaves the cream and the tin of bandaids by the door and flees. She'll let Zoro handle it.

* * *

Sanji dropped back down to the deck after returning two cannon balls to their senders. There were too many cannon balls from too many battleships. His legs _hurt_. Still, they'd make do.

"I wanna heeeeeelllllp," Luffy whined, his voice weaker than usual but none of them dared to point it out.

"You can't even move right, Luffy!" Usopp, still without his mask, called over- which Sanji thought was a little rich. Still, the message itself was one their captain needed to hear.

"Yeah, Luffy." He gave his foot an anxious tap against the deck. "Just leave the rest of this to us." _You've done enough_, was unspoken but Luffy screwed up his face like he wasn't ready to hear it.

"Yeah, you can take your time and _rest_." Zoro grit out as he set a phoenix flying, seventy-two caliber probably judging by the distance it flew. Sanji cast him a disapproving glare as Luffy's wordless whine peals up from where he's face planted, complaining to the deck boards. He might have actually _listened_ before, (key word being might) but that was as good as a taunt! 'Take your time and rest'? True as it may be Luffy was going to take that as a direct challenge of his capability and try to fight even _harder._

_Bad move._ He thought at Zoro, expression fierce as Luffy started up again.

"Who's in charge here? I'm the captain, I wanna fight too!"

The battleships let off a concentrated barrage, almost fifteen cannonballs coming at them at once. Luffy wormed around their feet using his chin to pull himself forward (leaving a _blood trail)_ and Zoro snapped a quick "Get inside, Luffy," which went ignored. He sent Sanji an answering grin that seemed to scream _Wanna bet?_

"I'm Luffy! I'm the captain- ah- oi?"

Sanji's eyes widened as Zoro sheathed his swords and bent down to seize Luffy's ankles. Sanji copied his move with the rubber man's arms, numb with the instantaneous revelation as to what they were going to do.

"Hey, hey!" Usopp gasped behind them but Sanji just tightened his grip on Luffy's wrists (which were really _thin_ darn it, when had that happened? Was this what bone tired really was?). The more seconds he had to think of it the better he realized the plan was.

The cannon balls flew toward them and he and Zoro stretched Luffy out like a blanket, preparing to use him to catch all their force and send it right back at the marines. It wasn't that different from the usual Balloon tactic, except it was carried out by them instead of Luffy who couldn't move well enough to do his balloon.

As they crashed into his stomach, Luffy sputtered and gagged. His hands turned to fists where before they'd been scrabbling at Sanji's grip. Now his fingers grasped tightly back around Sanji's wrists, holding himself tight as he got over the surprise and grit his teeth. It hadn't been what he'd had in mind but Luffy _was_ technically helping and he was determined not to give out halfway through his job. All his injuries were getting pulled this way- a fact that Chopper, (actually, everyone) wouldn't be happy about- which would effectively take Luffy out of the rest of the fight. The worst thing Sanji could imagine was some marine aiming arrows down here or maybe Luffy getting enough strength to try and shoot someone down from the deck with his pistol and knock himself off the ship in the recoil- or _maybe_ he would get enough strength to do his balloon but wouldn't be able to hold it and he'd release all his air and just blow away.

"One," He started.

"Two," Zoro offered the approaching bombardment a feral grin.

"**Three!"**

With a great heave Zoro and Sanji slung the cannon balls back at the ships they'd been fired from, a smattering of explosions peppering the decks and gunwales. Luffy snapped back into shape as he and Zoro brought him down to lie on the deck.

"Thanks for the help, captain!" Zoro patted Luffy's side and Sanji outright laughed.

"Yeah, as expected of our great captain!"

"What are you, monsters?" Usopp shouted at them angrily and yeah, Sanji did feel a little horrible about Luffy's increased shaking and glazed eyes and seemingly permanently grit teeth but at least he'd be happier now. And he'd stop trying to help by putting himself in the line of fire. Of all the ways he could have helped that had been the only situation they would've been in control of- unlike most things Luffy was involved in.

_Good plan, idiot marimo_, he grinned over at Zoro as they both showed Usopp what they thought of the accusation with cheeky peace signs (and Luffy was approving their actions too, huh), who scoffed in return with his own smile, _no duh, curly-brow._

* * *

"I can't make it up that." Luffy said without hesitation as he gripped the ladder with both hands and stared up the long path to the top of the ship.

"What." Nami asked and Usopp tripped forward over his own two feet- but there was no time to say or do anything more because Zoro had stepped forward, seized Luffy around the waist and hauled him up to let him cling to his chest. Luffy was dutiful in wrapping his arms around Zoro's neck and hunkering down as the swordsman began to climb up the ladder.

The whole exchange took less than thirty seconds and Usopp was left with the desire to whip his mask up just so he could make sure he was seeing clearly. He wanted to clean out his ears- had Luffy really admitted that he couldn't do something as simple as climbing a ladder?

"I'm not sure if I should be happy that he's accepting help," Nami whispered suddenly and Usopp leaned in to hear- like they were exchanging political secrets that held the importance of peace between two countries. "Or worried that even he admits he needs it."

Usopp could relate.

Halfway up the ladder Zoro paused and used one arm to hold Luffy in place while the captain rearranged himself so his legs were wrapped tighter around Zoro's midsection and his neck was caught firmly on Zoro's shoulder. Then they continued upward and the pair were over the edge, safely on deck.

He exchanged glances with Nami, who'd also been left to stand flabbergasted at the bottom, but she shook her head helplessly and after a moment turned away with pursed lips.

Right. Deserter Usopp, back where he shouldn't be.

Nami stared up after them, mouthing the words 'I can't' as if she couldn't believe, any easier than Usopp, that they had come from Luffy of all people. And then Zoro being the first one to accept that and… fix it.

Well, maybe the latter wasn't so surprising.

Usopp pretended that he didn't mind being left at the bottom as Nami began to climb, that he deserved it and so it was okay. Zoro and Luffy had gone up together- that was the best way to do anything.

He realized that only when he didn't have anyone to 'together' with.

This wasn't the first time he'd noticed it. He'd never really understand his Captain or his first mate- whether he stayed with them or not, that's what they were- the way they understood each other. He'd never understood it, but he'd always accepted it.

* * *

They've already forgotten and Luffy has forgiven but Zoro most certainly has not.

"Are you going to let him just walk right back onto the crew? No apologies, no compensation, no nothing?" Zoro clenches his fists around the sheathes of his swords and tries to keep the snarl out of his voice.

It's just. Luffy looks like he could be blown over by little more than a breath of wind. His skin is several shades paler than usual, he's still got dark smudges underneath his eyes and bruising peeks out from the rounds and rounds of bandages. Some are speckled with red. It's been three days of rest, treatment, and recuperation, but Luffy (who may be soft as rubber but usually stands as immovable as something stronger than a mountain) is still looking like he could drift off for another nap at any time. The smile Zoro has grown accustomed to lighting the world every day is dimmer and slow to switch on.

Usopp did this. Not all of it, but he was the start. He compounded the damage. Zoro is typically content to let the more nurturing members of the crew handle this sort of thing, but this grievance that Luffy has acquired is different. And he's taking responsibility to heal it right and not let it fester.

"Zoro, don't talk like that!" Nami scolds but Zoro isn't going to sit there and take this.

"I'm saying it cause it needs to be said. Usopp hurt the foundations of this crew by leaving, but he'll do a lot more damage by coming back without doing things right." He draws Wado in its sheath from his waistband and sets the blunt tip on the ground. Luffy's eyes follow it, even as Chopper sets off on a small rant about how important to the crew Usopp had always been. "Listen! This isn't a game and we can't treat it like one. There's something that brought us all together from day one and that's kept us together through almost half the grand line!" He raises Wado and prods Luffy in the chest with it. "Our Captain is our leader. We respect him and follow him and his wellbeing is important to us. It was important to Usopp."

"Zoro-" Luffy starts but Zoro plows onward.

"Usopp decided to leave us behind, and he has to face the consequences of that decision." He frowns and lowers his sword back to his side. "It's not a matter of wisdom, power, or ability- It's about the wellbeing of our crew. Usopp broke us apart and made us weak for the sake of his own pride." Zoro clips Wado back into place and crosses his arms. "He proved that he doesn't deserve to stand beside us. Until he learns to respect the man we swore to follow, I won't call him a straw hat."

Silence falls over the room. Sanji puffs his cigarette like enough smoke clouds will make the right words and Chopper taps his hooves together while darting glances between them all.

"Usopp is my friend." Luffy says, all steel and severity.

"He was also your crew member." Zoro replies with just as much firmness. "And crew members listen to their captains or else people get hurt." He holds Luffy's gaze for a moment more. "I refuse to let this hurt you anymore than it already has."

Luffy's jaw works like he doesn't like that reasoning but he doesn't argue either.

Nami looks like she's starting to understand, and Robin is nodding in the corner, like he finally explained it right. Zoro thinks it's funny in a way. Luffy only understands taking care of his crew, and his crew only understands taking care of him.

"I'm not excusing what he did." Sanji announces, "But he belongs with us. He has a place here, no matter what he does. You know that, mosshead." Zoro tilts his head in acquiescence and the rest of the crew shift to something more comfortable than where the energy had been. Sanji continues, emboldened by the silent support. "But he can be our friend without being our crewmember. And if his choices bring us there, then that's the right path to take. The ball is in his court now."

"But what about Robin!" Chopper piped up, fretting. "She didn't want to sail with us either! She said so!" He sniffed. "Wouldn't we have gone after Usopp too? If Cipher poll had taken him away on the sea train?"

"Of course we would have." Nami said, sure and solid in her own way. "But he wasn't. He sat right there in the lounge and said it all on his own. No threats that he didn't make for himself. Robin only said she was leaving because people made her."

"Thank you, Chopper." Robin nods down at him with that easy smile that has started sliding into place more recently. "While I am considerably grateful that you all chose to come collect me when I decided to leave the crew, I will admit that the two are distinctly different circumstances." She looks to Luffy who blinks. "And I think that Luffy knows us all, including Usopp, well enough to make the right choice."

Zoro steps back, knowing without asking that all those who are going to comment have done so and that it's Luffy's turn to weigh final judgment. He hopes that for once in his life he chooses something for himself- even if it's only for their sakes.

It takes a few minutes, as Luffy's thoughts do, but when it comes, Zoro smiles.

"I want Usopp back!" He announces, sure as he is of anything else in the world. "But I want what's best for all of us. And if that means he doesn't sail with us, then fine." He tilts his head in Zoro's direction. "He's still my friend, and I'll take him on the new ship anywhere he wants to go- but I won't have a crew member that doesn't want me for a captain." He looks around at all of them and smiles, the bandaids making his skin stretch in different places than usual. "I won't turn him away if he comes to us, but I won't ask him to come back where he won't follow me." He lifts his chin. "You all deserve better than that."

"No, you doofus," Nami mutters with a sigh. "I mean yes, Usopp owes me a lot of money for what he put us all through, but it's _you_ who deserves better."

Luffy laughs at that, like something has shaken loose in his chest and come fluttering out in search of sunlight. They're not back where they were, but they're not backtracking and burying things like they could've been.

And in two or three days, when Usopp finally works up the nerve to come back on the terms he needs to- as Zoro knows he will- _then_ he'll have really finished his job.

What a pain. Next time he'll let the others handle this healing stuff, he's no good at it anyway.

* * *

**AN: ****The speeches at the end took me *forever* Water 7 is so complicated and nuanced and I was trying a different focus than it got in canon.**

**I just. If Vivi noticing and helping take care of Luffy way back when is what made her an official unofficial straw hat than does disregarding Luffy's wellbeing nullify his status as one? Zoro thinks so, in some ways. Let me know what you think!**


	15. Sleep Eating

**AN: I hope everyone is doing well. Welcome to Summer (or Winter for those in the Southern hemisphere) we've been going at this story for 6 months!**

**I didn't realize until I went into the draft for this for final edits and brush-ups but it has a really different voice than some of the other chapters lol. Hope you all like it. This is another one of those early concept chapters that built the basis of this story**

* * *

**Sleep Eating**

* * *

Sanji has never been a particularly light sleeper, but he doesn't fall into the deepest of sleeps either. It's kind of like selective hearing, some things wake him up, and some things don't. A woman's tears wake up Sanji, Zoro wakes up Sanji (even his _voice _is infuriating), but things like Chopper asking after injuries or heavy storms shaking the ship don't disturb his rest in the slightest.

Eating is one of those things that wake him up.

Most of them haven't slept much since Enies Lobby, but that isn't from lack of trying. The problem was they didn't have anywhere to _go. _At first they were stranded on the Galley-la ship, being dropped off in a port where they had nothing to their names. Even after they'd been offered the shelter of a break house at one of Galley-La's docks they'd had to deal with the question of medical supplies for Chopper, food, and clothes among other essentials. Treating all of their injuries had taken the reindeer (and the doctor Iceberg had hired to help) several hours… Luffy slept through it all but most of them weren't that lucky.

Now, in the dead of night, it seems that Luffy isn't willing to stay asleep for very much longer.

Sanji pushes himself out of bed and looks around. There's an irregular sort of gnawing sound, like a dog with a bone, and that synonym is enough to tell him where to look first. He pads down the row of beds set up in one of Galley-La's offices, at the very end, closest to the door, Luffy has fallen half out of bed so his legs are up on the mattress and his head is down by the floor. He is restlessly chewing on the nearest leg of the bed.

Sanji sighs and heaves Luffy back into bed by his shirt collar. The man is covered in bandages but is resilient as ever, simply muttering gibberish as Sanji tucks him back in and plods back toward his own cot. His heart aches a little, knowing that his Captain is hungry and he can't do a thing about it.

A heavy thump sounds behind him and Sanji turns to find that Luffy has rolled himself up in his blankets and is now all the way on the floor. A moment later and the lazy scrapes of teeth on wood start up again. Sanji sighs and turns around again, moving to return Luffy to the bed- but something stops him. He watches his captain chew the wood into splinters for a moment before the idea hits him and he stoops to heave Luffy back onto the mattress, mind racing.

The thought is insane but then again, aren't they all? So Sanji takes a second to make sure his Captain is going to _stay_ this time and then turns to the kitchenette.

* * *

Chopper is the first one up that morning, roused by the scent of the spices Sanji is using liberally in his cooking of breakfast. The doctor plods down the row of beds tiredly, absently moves Luffy back onto the mattress and tucks him in, and then takes a seat at the table they'd been using for meals.

It's not till he's reaching for the first breakfast roll that he realizes the table is set like Luffy's going to be there.

"Sanji, what's all this for?" He squeaks, surprised, and Sanji half turns away from the stove where he's flipping an omelet.

"Oh, good morning Chopper," He smiles tiredly. "I'm just making breakfast, that's all."

"B-But Sanji!" Chopper stands up to look at all the food crowded onto the table and counters. There are plates of bacon, baskets of fruit, this has to be the fourth or fifth omelet getting added to the platter at Sanji's elbow. There is a bowl brimming with creamy crepe filling, dishes crowded with pastries and three pitchers, two with orange juice and one with milk. "We can't eat all of this!"

"But Luffy can, and he's hungry, in case you hadn't noticed." Right on cue there's a loud thud and when Chopper turns to look Luffy is on the floor again, and this time he notices, he's chewing on the leg of the bed, which he now also notices is looking quite beat up. Er, chewed up.

"Don't eat that!" Chopper squeals and hops out of his chair, shifting into heavy point and lifting Luffy away from the ground in a big wrapped-up bundle of blankets. Sanji smirks around the cigarette and flips the omelet onto the plate with an easy flick of the wrist.

"I think I'm ready, wanna get him a seat?"

"What are you doing Sanji?" Chopper asks cautiously as he pulls out a chair and sets Luffy in it. The rubber man slumps over immediately and face plants into the table, snoring into the wood as he shifts a little, squishing his face into an odd angle. Chopper nudges his head to make sure he can breathe and looks up at Sanji as the cook brings over a plate of bacon and scrambled eggs, setting it next to Luffy's head.

They wait.

And wait.

Luffy snores.

"Sanji, what are you expecting to happen?" Chopper asks tentatively and Sanji grinds the cigarette between his teeth.

"What?" He growls, "You'll eat wood but you won't eat my cooking? I know you're hungry so eat already- don't you dare make all this food go to waste!" Sanji picks up a strip of bacon and dangles it close to the boy' face. "You do it all the time, and I never ask you to but this time I am- just eat the bacon!"

"Don't wake him up Sanji," Chopper says calmingly "He needs rest still, you didn't see a lot of his fight with Lucci-"

"No, I didn't, but I saw him afterward." Sanji snaps, "And after any battle he's hungry. Just because I couldn't feed him before he fell asleep this time doesn't mean he doesn't need food! He's chewing on the legs of the bed, he needs to eat!"

"But he needs to sleep more," Chopper argues "You can tell that because he isn't waking up even for-" CHOMP "...Bacon."

Luffy mumbles a little more gibberish in his sleep as he munches happily on the strip of bacon hanging from his lips like Sanji's cigarette. Sanji manages a small smile then nudges the plate a little closer. Luffy's nostrils flare as he smells the simmering eggs and the moment he's done with the first bacon strip he's whuffling closer to the plate and working the edge of the next strip into his mouth.

"There ya go, Captain." Sanji turns away to start moving more dishes onto the table. "Keep eating and I'll keep cooking, deal?"

* * *

"How did you know he'd do that?"Nami asks, a little unnerved by the pace at which Luffy has taken in sleepily moving food from one plate or another and into his mouth.

"I didn't really," Sanji manages a tired smile her direction, just a little too short on sleep to go through all the usual motions. "But he was chewing on the leg of the bed so I figured he'd chew on food just as well."

"I'd prefer a chair leg to your food." Zoro grunts as he slides a plate of tater-tots closer to Luffy's wandering fingers. The more food the rubber man consumes the more animated he becomes in eating more. What had begun with Sanji hand feeding him bacon is becoming Luffy feeling out the plates of finger food on his own. He hasn't unlocked the secret to sleep-eating with silverware yet but Sanji figures it isn't very far off.

"Shut up, Marimo." Sanji snaps back but it lacks his usual anger and vigor. He's been cooking all night and now that Luffy is actually taking in food he's working even harder to mass produce the most nutritious and/or filling of breakfast foods. Whatever energy he has left is still being spent on feeding the black hole, and is not to be wasted on something useless like trying to educate the mosshead. "Wood has almost no nutritional value."

While Zoro is returning with some coarse insult of inferior quality, Sanji is distracted by the door opening.

"Hey cook," Paulie pauses in the door with the grocery bag on his arm, looking at Zoro and Nami who hadn't been around when he'd dropped by that morning. "Oh, hi. Uh, I brought that yogurt."

"Thanks, leave it on the counter over here." Paulie crosses the kitchen and starts unpacking the bag, stacking two large tubs of vanilla yogurt beside a few cartons of berries and a bag of apples. Sanji sets down the spoon he was using to stir oatmeal and moves the apples to the cutting board, slicing them and sliding them all onto a plate which he hands to Paulie in about thirty seconds. "Set that by Luffy."

Paulie drops the plate on the table on his way out the door, just as Luffy polishes off the last tater tot. He pauses on his way out to shake his head as the pirate captain detects the fruit with roaming fingers and maneuvers the first slice into his mouth.

"You're all nuts," He laughs and ambles out the door.

Sanji smirks tiredly and plops a dollop of butter on the top of a stack of pancakes.

* * *

Robin wakes up later that night, thirsty and tired and aching. She slides out of bed and pads past the others, smiling lightly at the fact that they're all still there, together. The smile slips when she remembers that Usopp is absent, but she doesn't imagine that that will last long.

If they'll go to Enies Lobby to retrieve her then she's quite certain they'll go to the other side of the island to get Usopp.

She slides open the kitchen door as quietly as she can, mostly because she's used to being quiet but a little bit for the well-being of Luffy. They'd moved his cot into the kitchen earlier that day and she didn't want to be the thing that woke him. But when she opens the door she stops abruptly in surprise, finding it was not only Luffy that she needed to be cautious of waking, it was also Sanji.

The cook is sound asleep in his chair at the table, head pillowed in his arms and a spoon in one hand, a bowl of soup before him. Luffy, too, is asleep at the table, though he less peacefully perhaps. Every few seconds his face scrunches up with a frown and he whines.

Robin steps over to the table very carefully, watching the two sleep to be sure that nothing she does disrupts them. The scene's predecessor is all too obvious. Luffy was hungry, so Sanji was feeding him and then Sanji had fallen asleep, exhausted from his own fight at Enies Lobby and his previous night and day spent cooking enough food to provide for four royal banquets.

Her smile returns and she hastens to the fridge, retrieving the water she'd come for and then perching herself on the chair next to Luffy. She leans over the sleeping pair and eases the spoon from Sanji's lax grip, sliding the bowl of soup over to her side of the captain. She fills it with soup, (chicken noodle, she notices with amusement) and nudges it against Luffy's lip. The young captain opens wide and nearly inhales the spoon as well as the soup immediately.

It's hard not to laugh but she manages, focusing on filling a new spoonful and delivering it to her hungry friend.

If this is what she can do to help them, any of them, even a little, to repay for what they'd all lost chasing after her (sleep, Merry, safety, blood), then she'll do it without complaint, just to give a little back.

* * *

**AN: I'm running out of content, hnnngg. If there's a delay before Thriller Bark I apologize but I've been agonizing over it in my free time for like 6 months.**


	16. But if We Saw the Roles Reversed

**A/N: Apologies for the delay! This chapter has a bajillion different beginnings and middles and sort of two or three ends but here are all the pieces that deserve to see the light of day.**

**Please enjoy : )**

**TW for vague mentions of sexual assault (if you know Thriller Bark then you know what I'm talking about)**

* * *

**But if We Saw the Roles Reversed**

* * *

Usopp coughs and waves away a dust cloud that puffs up from the shifting wreckage of the battlefield. Sunset colors the space orange and if not for Luffy, humming his island song a few steps behind him, Usopp might have thought it was sunrise again. Sunrise, with the threat of friends burning and Kuma's stark shape looming-

But it's sunset. It's been hours now since all of that. All that's left to do is sort everything out in the aftermath, like usual.

The repetitive notes of an instrument being tuned waft out from the main hall, through the kitchen, and then spread into the courtyard as Usopp leads the way and Luffy ambles behind with a crate in his arms. Each step throws up dust and sends debris crumbling. Robin greets them at the doorway with a wink, a smile, and a finger pressed to lips. Usopp takes a deep breath of air seasoned with barbecue sauce and dish soap.

"Sanjiiii," Luffy calls in a bad stage whisper. "We're baaaaack~" The cook's shoulders stiffen and he turns to greet them with a scowl, an unlit cigarette clenched in his teeth and ice packs taped to his leg where the bruises and swelling are particularly bad.

"I already gave you lunch so don't ask for anything more." He orders.

"Okay, okay," Luffy nods, agreeably. He doesn't even glance at the stir fry simmering on the stove but instead watches Sanji limp gingerly from countertop to countertop. "We got the stuff for Chopper!" He holds up the crate. "And we're gonna bring treasure to Nami next!"

Sanji grumbles and waves them on.

Luffy lingers for an extra moment but Usopp ushers him on to the next room before Sanji can resort to kicking him out. Some Risky Pirates are there preparing for the banquet they're going to have. They're scattered around the dining area, cleaning up tables and sweeping away zombie pieces. Brook doesn't seem to notice his visitor bound across the room. It's difficult to read the body language of a skeleton (which only barely constitutes as a body) but his skull remains angled at the piano keys who refuse to sing in tune. Usopp watches from the doorway as Luffy sets the crate on the floor by the bench and drapes himself over the edge of the instrument lid. That's when the expressionless skull tilts up to acknowledge him, spiderweb cracks surrounding the left eye-socket, and if bone could smile Brook probably would.

"You're supposed to stay with Luffy." Sanji says from behind, but the sniper waves the thought away.

"Brook appreciates the company. And I wanted to check on you. Need an extra hand?"

"Doing fine," The cook grunts and scrapes the diced contents of a cutting board effortlessly into a waiting pan. "'S just bruises and a couple bone fractures."

"Just cause we're not letting Luffy pester everyone about their injuries doesn't mean I'm not going to. Don't forget to sit down sometimes and rest."

"Yeah, yeah. Same to you Whiplash." Sanji gives him a pointed look and Usopp raises a hand to his neck. Perona's hollows had thrown him around like a ragdoll but all Chopper could do was wrap him in bandages to brace the strained muscles of his shoulders and neck. "Be careful and don't let the captain get too worked up again."

"That's my job!" He winks. The tuning notes from the next room shift into a slightly off-key rendition of Bink's Sake and Usopp turns to the doorway, watching Luffy sway serenely next to Brook on the piano bench. "Speaking of which, duty calls!"

"Ah, Usopp-san!" Brook tilts his skull towards him when he notices him coming. "Come join us! Do you have any requests?"

"Sorry Brook," Usopp props his hands on his hips and watches the slim white finger bones tickle the ivories. "Luffy and I are still taking care of things."

"Yes, of course." The musician nods. "Such a diligent captain, taking care of things while the crew recuperates. I'm amazed!"

Usopp winces and Luffy stills slightly but fixes his smile firmly in place.

"Sure!" He says, voice bright but expression stiff. "They always take care of me so I want to help!" He pushes away from the bench and scoops up the crate he's brought with him, the bottles and jars inside clinking together around the rolls of bandages that cushion them. Brook pauses, looking up at them with his expressionless eye sockets in a way that Usopp thinks might be confusion. "We should go! I wanna check on Zoro."

"Oh yeah, Chopper is waiting for us!" Usopp pretends to remember and waves at Brook before steering Luffy off in the other direction, his captain's shoulders stiff under his grip as they approach the makeshift infirmary.

When they'd all come to in the empty wreckage of a nightmare, the greatest source of concern had been- as usual- Luffy. But. Instead of them all gathered around their captain, beaten and bruised and trying to smile, it had been him watching all of them with guarded worry. It had been Luffy crouching to lift debris off of limbs; it had been Luffy's fingers hovering a hair's breadth away from scratched and swollen skin.

For once he'd sat still for Chopper's once-over and for once he really had been fine. Relief wasn't the word for it, because suddenly they had another issue.

For all that they'd never thought themselves anything but justified for looking after him, Luffy attempting to take care of them in the aftermath (as opposed to the typical defensive position he took on their behalf during battle) was a different matter entirely.

"Chopper!" Luffy calls in another stage whisper but pauses before going too far into the room. The reindeer's ears twitch in acknowledgement but he doesn't turn away from where he is bent over Zoro's left arm, laying another row of stitches across what had already been sewn shut but kept splitting. Robin sets her book down and waves Luffy into the room without moving from her place in the bed tucked against the back wall of the room.

Usopp follows close behind as Luffy comes up beside Zoro's bed and sets the crate down next to it. Music drifts from the other room into the makeshift infirmary but it doesn't quite penetrate the stillness and quiet.

Zoro has taken on the role that Luffy usually fills. Chopper's biggest problem, all of their biggest worry, the hub of activity as people tip toe around and try to help, checking in before moving off to return to whatever they were doing. Luffy has so far disliked the role reversal.

Usopp drifts over to Robin and digs a hardcover book out of his bag.

"Found this in one of the upstairs rooms." He says. "Thought you'd like it for the library."

"Thank you," She says and takes the book carefully. Her arms are bandaged from the various scrapes they suffered from all her helping hands throughout the battles. Mostly though, she's exhausted. There's a slight tremor to her body and her eyes are puffed with sleep. Chopper thought it had something to do with her lack of time spent unconscious after being separated from her shadow. Sanji was suffering from it a little himself, but Luffy hadn't seemed bothered and Zoro… Zoro didn't really apply in that realm. "Have you read this, Usopp? The tale of Frankenstein's monster? It's fascinating." A smile quirks at the edge of her lips as she flips open the cover, reading the publication information. "Quite fitting that this book was in this very mansion."

"I've had enough monsters, thanks." Usopp says. "And I'm too busy to read anyway. Keeping track of Luffy is a full time job!"

"I'm aware." Robin smiles. "Usually we split up that particular duty. Then again, it's usually a different sort of care he needs, hm?"

Usopp hums and nods but keeps an eye on Luffy where he's talking softly to Chopper over Zoro's chest. His eyes keep drifting down to Zoro's face.

"Yeah," He murmurs. "A different kind of care this time. Hey! Luffy!" He jumps up and digs through his bag again, leaving Chopper's things on a side table and then dropping an arm around Luffy's shoulder. "Let's go! We've got stuff to bring to the ship for Nami, remember!"

"Ah, right!" Luffy says and his face lights up but he's still distracted and hesitates before standing up and turning away from Zoro.

Chopper sets down his needle and looks up at them, tired and withdrawn in the way he usually is in the immediate aftermath of battles like these. He looks to Luffy because he knows what's coming.

"Chopper," Luffy says, careful and quiet and severe. "Take care of him."

"I will." Chopper promises. "I'm doing everything that's best for him."

They've exchanged something like this a few times now. Luffy having to leave Zoro and not wanting to, wanting to know that someone else is there while he's gone. (Of course they are. They're all here, but Luffy isn't used to this aftercare so they give him the allowance of asking). Perhaps it's a good exchange. Knowing that Luffy is fine lifts a heavy weight and Chopper is ready to shoulder this new small burden of a captain's expectation.

"We'll come back later," Usopp promises with a gentle pull on Luffy's arm that the rubber man doesn't resist. Chopper smiles as best he can and then submerges slowly back into his careful work. "Nami'll kill us if we don't hurry up!"

Brook plays a fun musical trill when they walk past, though it is a little off key, and Sanji gives them a guarded look and half closes the fridge that he's elbow deep inside as though expecting Luffy to make a try for it. Luffy stalls in front of both of them, the same way he did before finally turning away from Zoro.

The straw hats are only human (with some metallic and skeletal exceptions); Usopp knows that better than most. But Luffy takes in the battered and broken and reminds them that they're strong. He believes in the people that hold his life together the way that he holds them.

It must be hard to see them dressed in all the same hurt and pain he sees when he looks in the mirror. He's taken on the world to protect them and now, faced with his inadequacy, he doesn't have so much as a bandaid to show for it.

Risky Pirates wave at them as they make their way across the island, calling out greetings and impromptu thanks. They've made themself available all over the island, filling all the empty spaces so there's never one far off if any of their 'saviors' need a helping hand. Usopp does his best to convince Luffy not to step on any of the corpses dotting the estate.

They hike through the still very creepy forest and when Nami's voice carries, screeching, to reach them from beyond the trees he laughs at Usopp's sigh.

(Luffy-sitting isn't easy, but it is something Usopp is good at.)

"Finally!" Nami exclaims when she notices them coming up the gangplank. "Did you bring more treasure?" She claps her hands at the sight of Luffy's load and ushers him quickly to the appraisal corner. Luffy crouches beside her as she digs through the bag, pulling out the most valuable pieces and explaining how important it is that they not let anyone else have her- sorry, their- treasure. Usopp drops his own money bags (actual money bags. He doesn't have the strength to carry bulging sacks of gold like Luffy but paper money with large bills has a lot of value without so much weight. Nami doesn't discriminate.) in a pile of like objects and stretches out his shoulders carefully.

"Nami, you're dirty."

Usopp straightens, ramrod, and whips his head around to watch this exchange carefully. His neck twinges painfully in protest but he slaps a hand over it to rub it into submission and keeps quiet. Nami has stilled, her hands still buried in the bag. Luffy reaches out with a careful touch and tugs lightly on a loose strand of orange hair, knotted and stringy with grease.

"You shower way more than me." He says. "You like to be clean."

"I've been busy. Luffy." She excuses and reaches up to swat his hand away. But it's light, uncertain. "I haven't gotten a chance to shower."

(The people who call Usopp's captain dumb don't see him like this.)

"You always shower right after fights!" Luffy argues. "I've brought back three loads but you haven't taken any breaks! The treasure will still be there. I'll watch it for you. I want to help."

Nami stares at the golden chalice in her hand, mouth set in a grim line. It's true that her skin is painted over with a fine layer of grime and dust but Usopp hadn't noticed that anything was wrong per se. By the usual time that Luffy wakes up from injuries Nami is absolutely showered. Still, it's not unusual for her to prioritize other after-battle tasks as the tension starts to drop back down. Still, Luffy's picked up on something and Usopp isn't about to tell him not to do his job.

"Thanks Captain." Nami says and stands up. "Maybe I will."

"Good." Luffy nods.

"Good." She repeats lightly. "But if you want to help you'll come take a shower too!" She grabs his arm and Luffy immediately squawks in protest. "I don't need you to watch the gold. But standing next to you makes me gag, you smell horrible!" She laughs as Luffy scrambles off to another corner of the deck and her grip on his wrist stretches his arm across the length of the ship.

"I don't wanna shower!" Luffy protests. "You always yell at me when I come in while you're using it!"

"You wait at the door until I'm done." Nami says. "And then, when I'm ready I'll make sure you take your turn."

"Come on Luffy," Usopp smiles. "You want to help don't you?"

He grumbles something low and sullen but Nami just rolls her eyes and releases his arm so it smacks into him on the rebound.

"I'll get a change of clothes. Don't go anywhere!"

She disappears into the ship and Usopp takes the cue to usher any of the lingering Risky Pirates back towards the mansion proper and away from the ship.

Usopp remembers, after all, the last time Nami asked someone to wait outside while she showered. (He's sure that Sanji gave that invisible shadow a good stomping, but just to be sure he'll be a little extra vigilant. For Nami's peace of mind as well as his own.)

Without the strangers and Nami's meticulous counting and calculating the ship is quieter. Quiet enough to hear what Usopp couldn't hear before- metallic banging from down below. Luffy hears it too because his grin widens from the pout Nami had left him with. He jumps up and beelines to the door to Franky's workshop, Usopp only two steps behind.

"Ow!" Franky yells when Luffy throws open the door after pounding down the steps. "Luffy-bro! Uso-bro! What's happenin?"

"Whooaaaa!" Luffy exclaims.

"We should be asking you that." Usopp breathes, staring at the array of equipment and mechanisms surrounding Franky's thoroughly defleshed (and deboned, demuscled, and deveined) leg. "What are you doing?"

"This?" Franky gestures at the limb with a wrench. "Aw just some routine tune ups. Can't say I didn't get tossed around a bit and I thought I'd poke around, make sure nothing got knocked loose."

"What's that?" Luffy bends over the limb and jabs his finger into something that looks delicate and breakable. Usopp swallows his protest when Franky waves him off and intervenes on his own.

"That's a circuit switch. And this here is a pressure gauge." He runs down a quick list, naming all the most interesting looking parts and Luffy oohs and ahhs at all the right times. "Wire bundle, steel reinforced skeletal frame, snack nook-"

"What are you fixing?" Luffy interrupts. As he had with all the rest of them his eyes skate over Franky from head to toe, but it's harder to tell what's going on with Franky. All of the pilot lights are on the inside.

"Nothing in particular." The cyborg shrugs and works a screwdriver into a crevice and starts twisting. "Just gotta tighten anything that came loose. It's like stretching after a workout but for machinery." He pauses and looks up at Luffy, whose neck is bent at an unnatural angle to peer directly into the cavity of lights and wires. "That doesn't make sense to you either, huh Luffy-bro?"

"Ah? Why not? I stretch all the time!" Luffy beams.

"Can't argue with that!" Franky laughs and then offers his captain the screwdriver. "Wanna gimme a hand?"

"Ah Franky," Usopp starts. "I'm not sure that's the best idea-"

"Yeah!" Luffy snatches up the tool and gives it a vehement twist. It doesn't seem to bother Franky. If anything, he looks relaxed, leaning back on the workbench to give Luffy a better angle.

They go on like that for a few minutes. Franky points and Luffy cranks, adjusting whenever the shipwright specifies new instructions, like turning left instead of right. Nami calls for them and Usopp is grateful for the excuse to pull Luffy away.

He's glad Franky trusts Luffy to help, but Usopp has seen him break a few more things than Franky has.

Earlier, as Chopper had buzzed with all the steps he wanted to take and things he wanted to prepare, Luffy had been wholly incapable of helping. It just didn't make sense to put Luffy's rough touches in the close vicinity of freshly blooming bruises and still stinging stitches. But Franky isn't fragile in that way. Anything Luffy breaks in his excitement or lack of expertise can be adjusted later and replaced with new parts. Luffy probably realizes that too, a little, and throws all his exuberant care into the crewmember he can't break so easily. He's happy to help.

When they're back upstairs, Nami is standing with her bathrobe wrapped tightly around her shoulders, tapping her slippered foot. Usopp starts out with an apology but Luffy brushes past him and tugs Nami out of her ready-to-scold pose and into a flustered stumble up the stairs toward the bathhouse. Their mixed laughter and shouts fill the empty air ringed with fog and dread.

This adventure has gone a little different than the others. The end seems a little out of order. But here, standing on the deck, listening to his friends remind each other (no words required) that the fight is over... it seems like it's gotten to the same, hopeful end as all the rest.

Usopp follows close behind and adds his laughter to the reassurances.

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**A/N: Hopefully, this was a nice addition to the story as a whole : )**

**Unfortunately, I'm here to announce that the next chapter is the last one for a little while. Post time skip chapters are more complicated- like this one- and that means they take time and balancing.**

**See, in the beginning, I can set a straw hat after Luffy and they make him take a nap but after Marineford... things get a little intense. There are a lot of hurts and a lot more people involved in the adventures. I hope to come back with new content but I'm not about to put a timeline on it. Also, I want to stretch my writing muscles in some other directions : )**

**So! Next chapter = Last chapter! Please lemme know what you think of the both of them!**


	17. Hesitant Heart

**AN: **Law gets stuck in his own head a lot. When I write I get stuck there too. It's a weird place, lemme tell you.

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**Hesitant Heart**

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Portgas D. Ace is dead, and Monkey D. Luffy is not far behind him.

It is here that Trafalgar D. Water Law reaches in with his surgeon hands and holds the latter's heart safe. Four days after that Boa Hancock offers them safe harbor in exchange for his preservation of a rival pirate's life.

This is how Law comes to be sitting beside the bed of one of his fellow supernovas, wondering if he's done the right thing.

Straw Hat's skin is pasty and pale, hair straggly where it peeks out from bandages; the breathing mask fogs every few seconds but his chest seems hesitant to rise and accept the next breath. Law counts as every few minutes the heart monitor hesitates and the puff of respiration against the breathing mask comes a second too late. The blankets cover the details of his body but the thinness of his limbs shows through. He is expressionless, the picture of clinical stillness unless in the midst of that stutter of breath.

Were this a real hospital, as his parents had run, the little clipboard hanging next to the bed would have all the information Law would need. Straw Hat Luffy is a seventeen year old male, measuring five feet and about six inches tall and weighing something like one hundred thirty pounds. Law had performed the surgery in about five hours. Vital signs indicate that the patient is in a coma. Naturally it's more complicated than that.

For the sake of a man he's met exactly once, Law has derailed the plans of his crew for the next few weeks at least and quite possibly the next few months. He's repaired the inner tissues of stretchable organs, applied skin grafts too stiff to really take, and stabilized a rib cage made of rubber. Receiving any monetary reimbursement for any of this is an unlikely event. Law has saved a man who has recently lost every gamble he'd bet.

If this were a real hospital, Straw Hat's loved ones would thank him. They'd crowd around the bed and fill the room with flowers and gifts. There'd be tears shed, wounds healing, and a future waiting.

But this isn't a hospital. They're pirates. Monkey D. Luffy has just lost a war. And Law can only think about the last time he seriously debated if living is worth the trouble.

His current patient doesn't have Amber Lead Syndrome, but the situation isn't as different from Law's as it could be. The Straw Hat captain is wanted for every crime under the sun. He's lost his brother, which is a weight that will never subside. And since there are only so many reasons for a captain to be without a crew, the eclectic cast Law knows from Saoboady is probably lost as well. He's alone against the weight of the world.

Had it been right for Law to decide that Straw Hat Luffy should live to suffer another day?

The monitor blinks with a new set of readings. The graphs begin a gentle upward slope. Law shuts his eyes, reprimanding himself for even thinking it. He may be a doctor, he may be able to choose who has a chance to live, but it is never up to him to _decide_.

If Straw Hat lived it would be thanks to Law's efforts. But Straw Hat himself would make the choice from the options Law had provided. He wouldn't live or die based solely on what Law did, only on what Luffy himself decided.

Another breath comes a beat too fast and Law relaxes. It's silly of him to think that he is responsible for a thing like that. Straw Hat is too free a man to do anything he doesn't want to.

* * *

A week later the bed is empty.

In the waters of the gulf, his crew pulls wrecked equipment out of the new sky light Straw Hat has recently installed in the roof. Law sits on the shore and sweats in his skinny jeans and sweatshirt, playing with the red-ribboned hat in his hands.

His thought process from a week ago has a different facet to it now. Straw Hat's body had pulled through- of course it had. If he was going to die he'd have done it before he ever came onto Law's vessel. At the time offering assistance had seemed more than generous. But now…

Looking at a set of numbers and facts describing a patient made it all about allocated resources and efforts. Watching an anguished teenager rip his sub to shreds and disappear into the jungle made him consider that a life could be made easier to live.

Law still needs to remind himself that life is worth living, even if only for revenge. Maybe Straw Hat would need less reminding if Law had done more.

"You seem deep in thought."

Law doesn't jump. After all, supernovas can't afford to get snuck up on. But he does shift, glancing up with careful nonchalance at 'Dark King' Rayleigh.

"I have a lot to think about."

He thinks about how he has made it a personal challenge to complete surgeries and standard medical procedures without the use of his fruit. He thinks about what that means for his patient's overall health and aftercare.

The older pirate drops down to sit beside him, sinking a beer bottle into the sand and staring at the horizon like it's an old friend.

"I know the feeling. Can an old man help you parse your thoughts?"

_I'd rather not._ Law thinks and then says- "Maybe. What do you think about Straw Hat-ya?"

"I think he'll go far." Rayleigh says, "If he lives long enough to get there."

Living is the key, isn't it? It's never easy to live with the pain of loss. And what had Law done to make that life the better choice?

Someone shouts and the machinery inside the Tang lets out a reverberating clang. Law closes his eyes and makes a list of all the things he _really_ hopes he doesn't need to replace.

"If he dies it'd be a waste of resources." Law mutters and Rayleigh throws his head back and laughs.

"Certainly. But I think a lot of people will thank you for trying, at least. He seems well liked."

And there's another fact he wishes to ignore. Law likes Luffy, too.

The last time he'd changed Straw Hat's bandages is fresh in Law's mind. The wound on his chest was still raw and gaping, but the gauze came away mostly dry and the yellow residue of threatening infection was a thing of the past. The IV had been draining faster than was typical for a comatose patient and had only recently begun to slow. Luffy's body had finally caught up on nutrients. The dangerously high levels of adrenaline that Law had found in the first blood test had lowered to reasonable levels.

Straw Hat Luffy had been in bad shape, yes, but not beyond a good doctor's ability (alright, not beyond the ability of a better than average surgeon). But with Law's abilities, scar tissue is unnecessary and stitches defunct. Yet years of aftercare await. Hypertrophic scars of that severity don't just look nasty, they cause itching, raise risk of infection and - in not rubber people- can cause constraint of movement.

With the Op Op Fruit, his fellow supernova could have been back on his feet weeks earlier, and there would be as few physical reminders of his struggling and loss as possible.

But he hadn't used it. And his potential ally will always bear the marks of that decision.

With the help of two shichibukai and the first mate of the last pirate king helping him, Monkey D. Luffy has a lot going for him- but success is far from guaranteed. The idea of Law's borderline malpractice being another setback itches him the wrong way. It's a problem he's never encountered before. Patients have died (though rarely due to his mistakes) and patients have walked away with scars. He's never before felt that refraining from the use of his devil fruit could be considered a misdemeanor or a violation of his duties as a doctor.

"Why do you think he can overcome this?" Law asks. Rayleigh pauses mid swig and then rests the bottle on his knee.

"Overcome what? His loss? His injuries? His grief?" He sweeps a hand in the direction of the island, the blockade marked by the symbol of the kuja and parted by Jinbe's sedate pursuit. "Because there are people looking out for him. Looking to support him wherever he can't handle things himself." He rests his hand in the sand behind him and tips the mouth of the bottle towards Law. "Even people who aren't sure if it's worth the effort. Roger was like that too. One second you think he can rule the world and the next you think that he'll need help tying his shoes."

The truth of that statement hits too hard for Law's liking. Sometimes he'd glance at the monitors and charts and resist the urge to look things over, molecule by molecule, just to be sure there was nothing wrong. And sometimes he'd pass the door to the med bay and be all too surprised that his patient was still occupying the space and not off gallivanting into some new danger.

He barely knows Luffy, but already he is too attached. At the start it was just a set of numbers, wasn't it? With some distance maybe he can turn it back into that. A file easily stuffed into a cabinet or ledger somewhere in the cramped halls of the sub.

Law sighs and pushes himself to his feet. Bepo, waiting at the top of the hole to be handed more broken equipment, turns to salute, knowing at once that his captain has orders.

"Find Straw Hat's post treatment plan and get it reprinted!" He calls. "And put together a box with clean dressings, the basic medicated components of the IV, and instructions to use them."

"We're leaving?" Bepo asks, putting together what Law's order means. From within the ship, someone shouts for him to pay attention. Rayleigh watches him but doesn't move from his seat in the sand.

"Straw Hat clearly doesn't care for my treatment methods." Law shrugs. "The Empress and Warrior of the Sea can handle the rest from here."

"Ah, sorry. I don't mean to question you Captain!" Bepo shouts. "I'll get it done right away!"

Law nods and turns to look back at the jungle. It's quieter now than when Straw Hat's rage seemed to make the island shake, but far from still. It's abuzz with life and uncertainty. Risk and chance. The ocean laps at the shore, beckoning him back to its quiet depths.

"You're gonna leave just like that, huh?" Rayleigh asks.

"Why shouldn't I?" Law mutters. He doesn't think about the seamless swatches of skin that keep his own scars invisible. And he certainly doesn't think about how Straw Hat will see his new scars in the mirror every day- both a reminder of his failures and a new part of his body in need of maintenance and aftercare.

There are shouts coming from the Tang as Bepo spreads his orders. People are mad to be leaving the island of women, confused at Law leaving a patient halfway through treatment, and overall they're curious to see what's spurred them forward and where they're headed. Law wishes he had so much enthusiasm about leaving.

"You said it yourself. There are others thinking about his well being." He turns away and trudges through the sand, stuffing his hands into his pockets and aiming himself in the direct opposite direction of Monkey D. Luffy. "That works out. Because I'm not going to."

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**AN:** We are officially on hiatus now! We'll see what happens with the post marineford chapters. Thank you so much for reading and supporting me through this story : ) It's a really important project to me so it's wonderful to hear from others who got something out of it : D


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